Halo: Alliance
by StevieJr
Summary: Sequel to Halo: Helljumper, if you have not read it I highly recommend you do.Karl Kuhn got a mission that he never thought he would get. Now with his friends dead he has one big surprise during his time protecting a sangheili ambassador during the events after the war. (Finished)
1. Chapter 1

**This is a sequel to Halo: Helljumper if you have not read it I highly recommend you do so. This is about 2 days prior to the ending of the last story.**

* * *

Karl was exhausted, he got done just now from a mission attacking an Insurrectionist stronghold with a small team of other special operatives from all around the UNSC. He laid in his bunk taking off his helmet, ever since the death of his girlfriend and best friend he had turn into an emotionless soul. Only loyalty lying with the UNSC and he had lost his already lack of trust. He laid there looking at the ceiling, still in his standard issue ODST armor with a few upgrades for his new job, much lighter but much stronger armor with a mix of elements. A makeshift prototype shielding system, thanks to their new allies, the Sangheili. Another new feature was his helmet, which was the normal ODST helmet except now he had a skull painted onto the helmet, making sure to precisely paint where he could still see perfectly but look more menacing to his enemies.

Karl laid there until his commanding officers walked in, a Captain from the marines who he had a decent relationship with. Captain Fredrick Shale. Who was recommended to this spec ops team from his superior officer. He was a good leader, so Karl didn't mind the guy. "Kuhn up and at em." He yelled at Kuhn throwing a canteen at him to make him get up faster. Karl still got up normally ignoring the hit to the side. "Yes, sir?" Karl asked putting his helmet back on. "Admiral hood wants to see you, in his office, asap." Shale said walking up to Karl. "Oh, alright, guess I should be on my way then." Karl said dodging past the captain and walking out into the hallway. All of the spec ops team had their separate rooms, so it was one long hallway of 1 person rooms.

Karl made his way to Admiral Hood's office, which was close since they are in a more decent area than the normal marines are. Karl made it there soon and knocked on his door. "Come in." He heard the strong voice of the admiral. Karl walked in and immediately sat at attention with his hand to his helmet in a salute. "Sergeant Major Kuhn reporting for duty sir." Karl said quickly but strongly. "At ease marine." Hood said waving his hand. Karl nodded and put his hands behind his back and put his legs shoulder width apart, considered a 'parade rest'.

"Alright Kuhn, I looked at your record and I am pleasantly surprised to see your accomplishments, and as you know we have a very shaky alliance with our former enemy, the Sangheili." Hood said looking at Karl from a file, most likely his. "Yes sir." Karl said sternly. "Well, we have recently built an embassy in Berlin, and well the local populace does not appreciate the Sangheili being there. The sangheilian ambassadors are at risk, and so is our alliance." Hood finished standing up and walking to the window with his hands behind his back. Karl just stared at him, most likely guessing what is going to happen. "I understand you have a bad past with the sangheili, but I am trusting your loyalty to us and your clean record, especially no insubordination was on it, which impressed me at least everyone has it, except for you and the Chief." Hood said sighing. "Chief, sir?" Karl asked having a curious look under his helmet. "It's no one son, but I do expect you to protect this ambassador, no matter if you have to take a bullet." The admiral turned and pointed at Karl. "Your assignment will be given to you as well as your room for your living quarters in the embassy, you will be paid as well, depending on your performance. 'Performance?' Karl thought. He was having an internal battle, he would hate this mission. Considering it was elites who killed both of his friends. "Yes, sir, I will do my best." Karl said in a strong tone. "Very good, now dismissed, and I wish you luck Sergeant Major." Hood said waving Karl away, Karl nodded and left the room, sighing loudly as he headed down the hall back to his room.

He did not want to do this at all, but he was a soldier and soldiers follow orders. He was not going to let the past hold him back, despite it being a mission he would hate.

Karl made it back to his room and walked in locking the door behind him, he took off his helmet and walked over to his dresser and weapons locker. Taking off his armor it only left him in a UNSC tee shirt and combat pants. He left his boots on, locking all of his gear in his armor and weapons locker he walked over to the fridge, opening it he saw his options, he was not really hungry, he had a couple beers but decided not to get intoxicated so he just grabbed a bottle of water he had behind all the beers. Walking over to his couch he plopped down on it sighing, 'nothing interesting other than propaganda and news' Karl thought as he looked at the remote. He pulled a picture out of his pants and looked at it. It being of him and his two friends before they both got killed. He remembered being at the hospital when Brandy had died from her wounds. He didn't cry though remembering it, he hadn't cried after that, he only became an emotionless soldier like he had been before he made friends. He took a drink from his water and laid his head back and propping his feet up on the table in front of the couch. Sitting there just enjoying the quiet.

He was enjoying the quiet until he heard a soft moaning sound coming from his neighboring soldiers room. 'For fucks sake, not again. Sex hungry bastards.' Karl thought as he heard it getting louder. He then chuckled. 'I should prank them, the corporal will shit bricks when he sees me.' He then thought of Rogers, and how he had walked in on Rogers with a local girl in the city they were stationed in. It was the greatest prank he had ever pulled. He sighed as he just decided to listen to some music, he put the ear buds in completely zoning out the loud noises coming from the wall behind him and listened to some random playlist he had on his mobile phone.

Enjoying the peace he soon fell asleep and had no dreams, as he never does anymore. Karl clears his mind before he goes to sleep. He doesn't want the past sneaking up on him anymore.

* * *

Current Time

* * *

Karl was driving to the military airport, the drive was uneventful and he knew the flight would be as well. He checked the time and it was around 4 pm, his flight left at 6 pm so he had plenty of time, it had been a long time since he was in Berlin. He was born there and had lived there all his life, but never had time to return to see his family after the war started he was immediately deployed and never got RnR for a long time. He was definitely going to see his family when he got there. Karl had pulled over prior to put on his armor, as being seen in public without his armor made him feel unlike a soldier and more like a civilian. He knew he would have to live kind of like one while being with this diplomat. But he would wear his armor around it to make sure no one would touch the thing, it was a good idea in his mind to look like an intimidating security guard, that would keep people away if he looked like someone to not be fucked with.

Soon he made it to the airport, he arrived at the checkpoint for military personnel, at first the guard drew his weapon thinking Karl was a terrorist or something, "Put that weapon down marine I have an I.D. chill out." Karl said pulling up next to him while getting his ID out of his tactical pack on his leg. "Oh, sorry." The marine said while checking his ID. "Looks good sergeant, your terminal is on the left terminal 6." The marine said pointing to the left. Karl nodded and drove through the now raised bar.

He parked his warthog and proceeded to enter the plane, it wasn't luxury but it had to do, it was going to be a short flight anyways since he was in a military grade transport ship.

As he guessed the ride was uneventful and he just sat there with a couple of other marines that were also going to Berlin, he guessed. Then he saw a familiar face, an Asian man that had a UNSC cap on and master sergeant rank patch on his right arm. "Dao?" Karl asked to the man who sat across him. "And who may you be?" Asked Dao with a curious tone. "Asshole, it's me, you know the guy who saved your asses in New Mombasa." Karl said like a smart ass. "Well i'll be damned, you piece of shit, never thought I would see you here, I would get up and hug you but we are flying at 1000 kilometers and hour." He finished with a smile. Karl chuckled, "I got mag boots, I have gotten some upgrades, a prototype shield, and some other classified shit I am not going to tell you about." Karl said staring down the man. "Well that skull makes you look like a scary fuck. On the contrary, how's your girl doing?" Dao asked. Karl sighed, "Well, she is KIA, shorty after we arrived at our new base we were attacked by a lone covenant raider corvette, she held off for a while, when I got to her she was long gone." Karl said with a deep sigh. "But it is all behind me, been a couple months, and it's easier by the day to forget about her." Karl finished. Dao just nodded and leaned back in his seat. Karl did the same.

Soon a red light flashed in the corner of their hold, they were slowing down for landing at the airport. Soon the light turned green and Karl felt the large ship land. Him and Dao got up with each other and had a quick handshake, leaving the plane Karl decided to speak first. "So what are you in Berlin for?" Karl asked while grabbing his bag full of his weapons, ammo and other personal items. "I am leading security for the embassy." Dao said plainly. "Ha that's funny cause i'm guarding the ambassador from Sangheilios." Karl said with a friendly chuckle. "Well, guess I won't have command over you then?" Dao said sarcastically. "Ha, I out rank you anyways, good luck with that." Karl said while they were walking towards their transport, with which he could guess was the security team that was also on the flight with them, about 10 tough looking marines that he guessed Dao would be leading with a side of local police forces.

Karl jumped in the back of the large transport truck and set his gear next to him while everyone else boarded, Dao hopped in the driver's seat. Karl took out his magnum and loaded a mag full of rubber bullets, and put several other magazines with the same rounds in his ammo pouches. He took his combat knife out of his bag and sheathed it into his sheathe while putting the magnum in his holster with his other hand. 'Non lethal on civies, unless they have a gun' Karl thought as he loaded rubber bullets into an assault rifle magazine. The truck started moving as he loaded the magazine into his assault rifle. He then took out live rounds out of a separate box and loaded them into a second magazine putting it into an ammo pouch he did the same with every other magazine for 4 magazine. '3 non lethal 2 lethal' Karl said to himself and labeled the non lethal with orange tape at the base of the magazine to make sure he didn't mix it up.

The truck was going through the busy city, but people moved out of the way as soon as they saw the truck, and especially the marines in it and Karl who probably looked terrifying from a civilian perspective. 'Guess the scary part is working' Karl thought as he saw some of the civilians stare at him, usually with worried looks, Karl just waved at them to tell them he was friendly, most didn't wave back, but you know. 'Civies have no idea what its like' Karl thought as he shook his head while watching some kids playing in a playground.

When they arrived at the embassy it was a large metal building that was a white color with large windows at the front, 'Just like every embassy I have ever seen' Karl thought as he jumped out when it came to a stop. There were already security guards at the front of the building with riot gear on and what looked like shotguns, most likely with non lethal ammunition. There were 4 guards guarding the front of the building and about 6 around patrolling, 'they look fine, why did they need military help?' Karl thought as he looked around with his bag on his back. Then he saw the somewhat hostile civilians that were loitering around the area. 'They are probably afraid of mobs' Karl thought as he walked towards the building. Dao and the 10 marines right behind him. He nodded to Dao as he walked next to him. When they reached the front the security guards didn't hesitate to open the doors for them, "Guten Abend." Karl said as he walked past the guards. "Guten abend sergeant." They responded both almost at the same time but far enough apart to know they weren't clones.

He walked into the embassy to notice how nice it was inside, decorated with plants and paintings on the walls. 'Fancy' Karl thought to himself. He then saw there were a couple more guards but more spread out and most of them were more relaxed then the ones on the outside. In the middle of the room there was a large desk with a secretary behind it, it looked like she was expecting the marines but when she saw Karl she went wide eyed. "Mind asking who you are, sir?" She asked nervously. "It's alright I'm Karl Kuhn, the ambassadors guard." He said relatively charmingly to calm her down. She mumbled something to herself, then got on what looked like a earpiece and quickly asked a question he could not decipher. "Oh, okay sir, well the ambassador would like to meet you, up the stairs and room at the end of the hall is her office." She said quickly then went to talk to Dao, Karl nodded then walked up the stairs, before he realized it he stopped about halfway up. "Wait her?" He said out loud but to himself. He sat there squinting up at the ceiling for a second then shrugged and continued up the stairs. 'Guess they are more civil then the males' he though to himself and chuckled at himself.

He walked up to the room and knocked on it, 'Alright, remember be respectful' Karl said to himself. "Come in." He heard a relatively gruff but very feminine voice, almost human like in nature come through the door. He opened it and saw her sitting at her desk wearing some very colorful robes that covered her full body, she looked like well a sangheili but looked shorter and less buff, with a more women like body. Karl walked over to the other side of the desk, without looking she motioned him to sit down in the chair on the other side, which he did. Karl tried to look as non threatening as possible, and not have a bad first impression, but the helmet would not work in his favor at all. When she finally looked up at him, her facial expression went from clam to wide eyed. "Well you look quite scary human, I like that, should keep my 'assassins' away." She said with a throaty chuckled. Karl just nodded, "It comes natural to me ma'am to be intimidating, guess that's why they picked me." Karl said casually.

"You really have no need to fear me at all ma'am as I am here to protect you not try and hurt you, why do you need a bodyguard anyways, if I may ask?" Karl said with a curious tone. "A couple weeks ago I was assaulted by a mob, they would have killed me if it wasn't for a couple of policemen nearby." She said with a deep sigh. "Huh, must be why there is a bit of military security?" Karl asked. "Well, you see human they are worried about me, because if I end up hurt my people will not be happy and there will be no chance for peace. You are here to make sure I am not hurt if I decide to leave the building." She said very straight forward and serious, a little more serious then Karl. "Understandable, I wouldn't want to be hurt just trying to enjoy myself either. By the way I never got your name." Karl said as calm as possible.

"My name is Soya 'Nulcam." She responded quickly, "What is yours human?" "Sergeant Major Kuhn, I prefer not to give out my first name to people I don't know very well, or unless they are fellow military. I hope you understand." Karl said as serious as possible. She nodded, "Well human, come with me I wish to see the city." She said getting up and walking over to the door. She was really only a couple inches taller than him and he was 6'2 so she was no taller than 6'4. Karl got up and picked up his belongings, "Let me put these up in my quarters really quickly." Karl said as he went to his room and threw all of his stuff in quickly then locking the door again.'I don't need my AR' he thought as he set it next to the bed in the room. He went down the stairs quickly and found her already outside, waiting for him. "Well let's get this show on the road, I was born here actually, anything you would want to see, now that you are safe with me you can pretty much go anywhere." Karl said as he walked up next to her. "Nothing in particular, however I have heard the Brandenburg Gate is a fine piece of human architecture." She said in a somewhat monotone voice. Karl looked around for a bit, "Oh I know where we are, it is very close, follow me, and stay close, I would actually prefer if you walked next to me so people know not to fuck with you." Karl said as he motioned her next to him.

She walked close, but not enough to break Karl's bubble and get him upset. He mostly saw her getting nasty looks, he kept very alert, but looked calm to everyone's eyes. If anyone tried anything he would know, and he would end them. He noticed they had a tail, but he kept discreet about his movements. Karl slowly pressed the safety on his magnum, knowing this SOB would probably have the balls to try something. Everyone to the front of him actually saw his helmet and backed off knowing this women was not going to be touched, then he saw the man had a knife. He still kept calm and walked very close to her, "Keep walking Soya, we got a tail I will take care of him." Karl whispered as he started walking slower and eventually got behind her. He walked into the large group of people walking around this evening, on a Saturday. Karl eventually got behind the man but kept very close. He then saw the man break into a sprint running towards Soya, drawing his mangum he shot the man in the back of the knees quickly slowing him down and almost making the man fall, Karl then ran through the croud and tackled the man to the ground, grabbing his arm quickly he shoved the man all the way to the ground and put his knee to the man's back and grabbed his arm with the knife in it and pulled it backward causing a scream of pain from the man's mouth. Soya quickly walked near him. Soon a croud appeared around them, mainly people standing in shock of what just happened. Karl pulled the man's arm again and he dropped the knife, Karl picked it up with his free hand and put it into his pocket. He got off the man and picked him up holding his arms behind his back and pulling down on them so he could not get free.

Karl let go, "Gehen!" Karl shouted at the man and when the man didn't move he got his magnum out again and pointed it at him, "Gehen! Jetzt!" (Go now). the man quickly turned and ran down the sidewalk. Karl let out a sigh of relief and also a breathe of accomplishment. "Thank you." He heard Soya's voice say. "No problem at all ma'am its my job." Karl said and looked around, still seeing hostile faces but most were keeping their distance. "I wish we could see the Brandenburg Gate but, maybe on a less busy day ma'am." Karl said as he motioned her to follow him. she nodded in understanding and they made their war back to the embassy.

When they arrived security let them in with a nod. Karl escorted her to her room his time and not her office. "Have a good evening ma'am, see you in the morning." Karl said as she closed the door and walked back to his room. He entered and quickly found himself taking his armor off and getting into more comfortable sleeping clothes.' gotta get used to the time change i'm tired as shit' he thought to himself. He took the AR that was on his bed and put it on the floor, deciding to get comfy in the morning and put all his stuff away in the morning. He closed his eyes, 'this is going to be a long rest of the stay' he thought as he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Karl woke up around 0700 the usual time for him. He then thought for a second of where he was, then he remembered, 'oh yeah right, fuck me' he thought as he got up and walked over to the small refrigerator he had in his room in the embassy. Then he heard a commotion outside and wondered what it was, it sounded like shouting. He quickly got up and grabbed his armor putting it on swiftly and threw his helmet on. On his way out the door he picked up his magnum on a table next to his bed and rushed out the door. He was met with Dao, "Karl we will need you, a mob is forming outside I need all the men I can get." Karl nodded and then asked, "How many?" Karl asked while loading a magazine of rubber bullets. "100 plus." Dao said sternly. Karl nodded and followed Dao outside where guards were holding shields in a crescent shape around the entrance. Karl could hear them saying things such as 'split lip' and 'kill it like it killed us' mainly in german but also some in english. He couldn't believe people came from around the world just to terrorize this place.

He walked outside and to his surprise many of the people were not armed only throwing food and such at the staff. "Alright people clear out or we will take action!" Dao said loudly at the croud, not even shaking them. Then Karl spoke up, "Alright everyone shut the fuck up right now!" He said loudly and sternly and to his surprise most of the croud did. "Now I want to make something very clear! How many of you people standing here were soldiers? How many of you have actually fought these things?" He said shouting at the people. "Maybe if you fought them you would have more respect for them, I killed a good amount of the split lips, but here I am guarding one. You know why?" He paused again, "Cause I am not a piece of shit you like you people are! Yes you lost family, but I bet 80 percent of you standing here this morning have not even, lost any family." Karl said finally. "No clear out before we take severe action that will harm all of you, either you want peace and no death or you want war and more death, and then your families will die." Karl said taking a long breath. Most people stood there and just seemed to be thinking. Then after a few more minutes of shouting they left.

"One fine display, maybe you should be a diplomat." Dao said putting a hand on Karl's shoulder. Karl shrugged, "They have no idea what it is like fighting in a war I bet not a single person in that croud had been a soldier." Karl ended and walked back into the building. 'Now I am hungry, and I still need to clean my room and put all my shit where it needs to go' Karl thought as he rubbed his stomach.

He walked back into his room and closed the door behind him, locking it. He threw off his helmet and tossed it onto his bed, walking over to the fridge he found just some fruit such as an apple and a bag of grapes. Karl shrugged and took the apple, biting into it almost instantly. He looked around the room as he continued eating the apple. Well there are not many personal belongings I have other than clothes. Karl shrugged as he tossed the apple into the trash can, 'all those years of throwing grenades made me good at basketball, who knew' Karl thought as he smiled at himself. He put all of his clothes into a small dresser that was there for him and put all of his other things such as spare armor, weapons, and ammo into a neat collection in a foot locker at the end of the bed. With a satisfied sigh he walked next to his bed and picked up his helmet, putting it on he saw the HUD flash on and say "Shields 100%" with a nod he left the room locking it behind him. He just kind of sat outside his door for a moment looking around the hallway.

With a sigh he walked towards the office and walked in, it was empty still, so he walked in and sat in a char in the corner of the room, he didn't know what to do so he would just wait for her to get here, so he can do his job of course. 'Man this lady sleeps' Karl thought as he messed with the leaf of a potted plant next to him that looked very strange and not of this earth. Probably because it was, it was most likely from Sangheilios, 'probably makes her feel more at home' Karl though then he started thinking of home. His Mom and his sister. His dad had been an officer in the beginning of the war and had been killed. So his mom had to raise his young sister on her own. Which would be better for the young girl so she didn't join the military, Karl didn't want that for her as he held her in his arms for the last time before he had left to go to ODST school after he had been selected.

He then heard the door open and she walked in, not even seeing him in the corner, when she did she didn't even react other than slight wide eyedness, which Karl thought was just a minor surprised face. "You are here early Sergeant." she said as she went and sat down in her chair. "Well ma'am I had to stop a riot, looks like you are quite the celebrity in this city." Karl said as he leaned back and put his hands behind his helmet. She just nodded. For a while they just sat there silently, her doing her work and Karl sitting in the corner not even being phased by a slight sound. "Are you asleep?" She said not even looking at him. "Nope." Karl said plainly, crossing his leg over the other, looking as relaxed as possible. "Just enjoying the view." He said as he pointed out the window of her office. She turned an noticed him pointing and nodded.

After another hour or so someone walked into the door, it was Hood. Karl immediately stood up and gave him a salute. "At ease." Hood said while waving his hand down, with a nod Karl sat back down and go in his previous position. "M'lady." Hood said while taking a seat on the other side of the desk. Soya nodded and looked at him, Karl just sat there not wanting to intrude on their conversation, but they were close so he mine as well snoop. "So how is your new guard fairing you, did I choose well." Hood asked her, "Well it is only his second day so I can't really for an opinion, but he has saved my life once, well twice if you count the mob." She said in a very monotone voice. "Huh, well I just got a report from head of security that Kuhn defused the situation quickly, most likely to protect you." Hood said. Karl was trying his best to not blush under his helmet considering all the attention he was getting, he hated it but loved it.

After a few more moments of Hood asking some other useless questions that Karl could care less to hear about, without a word Hood left the room and the door closed behind him. Karl then got up and walked over to Soya, "Ma'am if you don't mind me asking, could I be dismissed for a couple of hours. My family lives nearby and I have not visited them since I joined the ODST, which was about 5 years ago." Karl said while walking in front of the desk. "I suppose, but hurry back please I do not want to be unprotected long." She said in sarcastic voice. Karl left the room and quickly headed out of the building. He nodded to the security at the front, which had increased since the mob this morning. He looked at his watch on his HUD and saw it was about 1200, 'I will be back at 4' Karl thought as he walked out into the less busy street. It was Sunday church was lessening the croud, which Karl thanked the all holy religion for.

After a few minutes of walking and people avoiding his presence he made it to his families house which he hoped they still lived there. And he hoped he looked like he did a few years ago, clean shaven buzz cut, still a very smooth but serious looking face. 'I just hope they live here still' Karl thought as he walked up to the town house.

Karl knocked on the door and waited for a few moments, he took off his helmet quickly and put it under his arm. Looking as least a bit threatening as he could in his armor, then he pressed a button on his arm and deactivated the shields so if they went for a hug they wouldn't bounce off of him. Soon the door opened with a soft "Guten abend" from he knew it was his mother, he recognized the voice almost instantly. "Who are you-" She stopped and looked at Karl's face. "Kara, get in here now!" He heard his mother say and she quickly wrapped Karl in her arms and started kissing his chin, which is all she could reach. He could tell she was crying but didn't say anything. "We knew you were alive because we never got a letter from the UNSC, why do you never write us.." She was rambling, just so happy to see Karl. Karl just kissed her head and walked with his mother still clinging to him, into the house and closed the door behind him. Then he saw his sister walk in, now in her teenage years, she looked a little like Karl but she had darker brown hair and a slightly softer face. "Oh my god, Karl!" She ran towards Karl and hugged him tightly, barely really getting through his armor though. Both women were now crying and hugging him. Karl sighed.

"Alright enough ladies, enough." Karl laughed as he said this, it was a real laugh not a fake one like he usually did. They both let go of him and were now just staring at him. "Well, we were about to have lunch, if you would like to join us." His mother said softly now wiping away her tears. "That would be lovely mother." Karl said walking over to their dining room. 'Still looks the same as it had when I left' Karl thought as he walked into it and put his helmet onto the counter. "So are you staying in town somewhere, if you have to you can live here." His mother said walking up behind him. "I would love to mother, but I am actually on a mission right now, I am just visiting temporarily. I know it sucks but it's a part of life." Karl said as he sat down in the 4 chair dining table. "Well I will have you know your sister is doing very well in school. Like you never did..." She said jokingly at the end. Karl scoffed, "You know I was always going to be in a life of military, I am not dumb mother but I just hated the idea of school, I still learned, I just never did any of my work." Karl said with a chuckle, "I think I'm too old for a scolding anyways." Karl finished. "You are never too old for a scolding young man." She said shaking her head and grabbing what looked like sandwiches.

Kara soon walked in now wearing glasses, which was a new feature that he had never seen, but he thought she looked pretty in them. "So have a boyfriend yet Kara?" Karl asked looking over to her. "No, I don't want one, yet." She said sitting down in the chair to his left. "Why not?" Karl asked sitting up a bit now, less relaxed. "It would mess with my studies." She said plainly. Karl chuckled, "That's what I want to hear, less heartache more headache." Karl leaned back in the chair again.

His mother put down the sandwiches and they began eating after a short prayer. Karl didn't mind praying if it was with his family, but he was never too religious, but respected his family's religion. After some catching up and Karl telling a few war stories, but of course under exaggerated because he did not want to go into detail about what actually happened. "So what is your mission you are here for?" His sister asked. "Well, I guess I could tell you, but I have a job at the embassy. helping guard a VIP." Karl said, hoping she wouldn't ask who. "Who are you guarding?" She asked, 'For fuck's sake' Karl mumbled in his mind. "Well it is an ambassador from Sangheilios." Karl said. "No way, a sangeili!" His sister shouted. Karl sighed, "Yep." He said casually, while also finishing his sandwich. "What are they like when they are trying not to kill you?" His mother actually asked, more angry in tone now. Karl shrugged, "They are decent, more than I expected especially since it is a female, they seem more civilized and up for the job than men are." Karl said taking a sip of water from his canteen. He just heard his mother grunt, probably out of frustration. "How many did you kill?" Kara suddenly asked him. "Now Kara, it is very informal to ask soldiers that question, or don't ask if they killed someone. It is uncomfortable for soldiers to say that kind of thing, only people in the right mind will tell you the same thing I did. If anyone else tells you how many they killed, you know they are probably fucking crazy." Karl said getting up from his chair. "Watch your mouth Karl!" His mother shouted at him. "Sorry, I picked up that mouth being in the navy mother." Karl said rubbing the back of his head. His mom always knew how to scold him, even if he was a grown man.

"So anything you guys want to do while I am here?" Karl asked, "I have a couple more hours to stay here." Karl walked over to the couch and sat in it. "Well actually Kara has to go back to church soon and I need to go into work for an emergency after lunch, so your visit may be short lived". Karl shrugged, "Alright I can head to the bar or something." Karl said as he gave both his mother and sister a goodbye hug and kiss and walked with them to their car. "I will visit as often as I can, to make up for lost time, I promise." Karl said as they drove off and he waved them goodbye. He put his helmet back on and headed for the local bar to spend the rest of his free time getting some cold drinks.

He made his way to the bar and walked in keeping his helmet on as he walked in, basically forgetting he was wearing it. He walked over to a corner booth and sat in it stretching his feet out onto the table and leaning back. He took his helmet off and laid it next to him. Taking a deep sigh an attractive waiter came up to him and smiled, "Hello sir what may I get you?" She asked him. "Just a couple cups of budweiser please." Karl said monotone. A lot of thoughts were hitting him, if he was even going to be able to keep his promise with his family. "Okay sir I will be right back." She said and walked off. Karl just stared off into space for a few minutes until she came back, "Here you go, you also get a discount if you have a soldier ID, even though it's pretty obvious" She said with a chuckle at the end. "No need ma'am I will pay full price, I am feeling generous today actually." Karl said looking at her. She nodded and walked away and Karl took a sip from one of the cups of cold beer. "Ahhh." Karl was enjoying this, because he didn't drink often when he did it let some pressure off his head.

He continued to drink the cup of beer slowly, and just observing his surroundings. There were a group of what looked like just normal patrons in the opposite corner in the other booth and a couple of women at the actual bar. It was pretty empty though, considering it was a Sunday afternoon, that was probably why, but he liked that it was empty. He didn't mind it at all, less people to bother him.

After he was done drinking the 2 cups, he barely felt intoxicated, he put his helmet on and went up to the bar tender and put the money he owed on the bar, getting a worried look from the two women next to him as he was putting the money down. He just waved at them and walked out of the bar.

As he walked down the street towards the embassy he could see obviously about three people following him at a fast pace. He shrugged, knowing these guys were probably the butt buddies of the guy he fucked up yesterday. Because he saw the same guy in front of him, probably dumb enough to think he was actually drunk. But his senses were still top notch, he could take all these guys. The man stepped in front of him. "Sup asshole." He said in somewhat broken english. "Hi, just passing through, don't mind me sir." Karl said as he turned and saw the three men a few feet behind him. "You should have let me kill that sangheili bitch!" He yelled at Karl's face, but he wasn't intimidated. "Well I'm sorry I am a soldier and not a civie who believes whatever the planet's propaganda tells him." Karl said as he tried to talk past but the man put a hand on his chest stopping Karl in his tracks. "If you are not with humanity you are against." He saw one of the men behind him pull a 9mm pistol, Karl's shields weren't on but his armor would easily stop the bullet. So he let the man shoot him and it just pinged off and his the concrete.

Karl stayed clam and composed as the other two went in to grab his arms, instead they hit the concrete as Karl shoved both of his elbows back and hit both of them in their noses. The original man and leader of this gang tried to pry off his helmet from the back, but the helmet was locked onto his armor and it would be no use. Karl turned and grabbed the man's arm when he went in for a punch and twisted his wrist making the man shriek in pain and fall to the ground, "This time you are under arrest mister." Karl said as he cuffed the man to a pole. The other guy with a gun was now just pointing it at Karl as Karl called the local police. "Yes I am being assaulted, 7th Gross street, yes." As he was talking to the operator he pulled out his magnum and shot the man with the pistol several times in the legs and arms, making him fall to the ground in pain. Karl walked over to him and took the pistol and took the clip out and pulled the cock back so the chambered round would fly out. Karl threw the pistol on the ground next to the other two men who were holding their now broken noses.

Karl zip tied all of them to the same pole the leader was on and watched them all argue with each other until the police arrived who came with several squad cars and took them all. Karl gave his report, and took a breathalizer test because the men claimed he was drunk and attacked him. He came out clean so he gave his report and left, going back to the embassy finally. By now it was 5 pm, he was very late.

He walked into the embassy to be met with an angry looking sangheili. "You are a little late, and by a little I mean a lot human." She said angrily looking at him. "Yeah sorry I was held up on my way here by stabby boy from yesterday and his butt buddies, but I took care of it and had to stay to give my report to the police of what happened. Sorry for being late." Karl said turning around and showing the bullet mark in his clean everywhere else armor. She nodded in understanding and waved for him to follow her. He walked up next to her. "So, you friends with admiral Hood?" Karl asked, "We are acquaintances, when the arbiter is not able to visit he does." She said plainly. "Huh, the arbiter huh? He is the leader now right, exposed the prophet's lies?" Karl asked, "Yes indeed human, he helped our people come to light that the prophets were liars." She said while rubbing her mandibles. "Well why did you start a war against the humans?" Karl asked in real curiosity. "We were told by the prophets that you were pests that had no real use and needed to be exterminated." She said in an actually sad tone, to Karl's surprise. "Well we were not people to be messed with were we?" Karl said in a somewhat harsh tone which he didn't mean to come out. She just nodded. "Did you ever kill any of my people, when you were fighting the covenant?" She asked, which surprised Karl even more, but he wanted to be honest with her. "Well, yes, I killed many, but I was just defending my species, you would have done the same to humans." Karl said in a serious tone. She nodded as they continued down the hall to her quarters. "Well I must rest I have had a long day in the negotiations, good bye human." Karl nodded as she closed the door and he walked off back to his room.

He made it back soon and stripped his armor and helmet off and got into athletic shorts and an athletic shirt to sleep in. He laid down in his bed and thought about everything that happened today and hoped those assholes didn't see his face and or saw him with his family. His family being in danger would be the death of him, he would do anything to protect them. He promised himself if anything or anyone ever threatened his family he would do anything to kill those people, but those pricks did none of that and would enjoy a few good years in prison, at least he hoped. He had told the officers that he was with the ambassador and he attempted to assault and possibly kill her.

Finally losing these thoughts and clearing his mind he drifted off to sleep.

 _He opened his eyes to be laying in a bed, a different bed than he was laying in when he went to sleep. He saw a women next to him, after further inspection he saw that it was Brandy. She was peacefully sleeping, with slow and steady breaths. Karl looked around and saw that he was nude, and she was nude. They must have done the deed. 'Would this have happened if she had not been killed?' Karl thought, he started to think, 'I could have saved her, if only I was faster and closer I could have prevented this whole thing from happening' he then started to cry, but subtly and not very loudly. But Brandy awoke and began hugging him, he then heard her sweet voice, "It's okay there is nothing to cry about, I am here for you Karl." He stopped crying then smiled, what kind of tricks was his mind playing on him? Why was this happening to him?_

Karl opened his eyes and he was back in the real world. Was that a nightmare or a good dream? He couldn't think straight as his mind was flooding with memories of his friends. He would have trouble going back to sleep tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

_Karl was sprinting in the rainy weather, he was currently at a training camp in a classified area in eastern Western Canada. He was running as fast as he could towards the enemy flag. He was currently the last one alive on his team, Rogers was sitting out on the sidelines in the large training area in the forest._

 _Karl had only a magazine left in his training MA5 assault rifle and was going full sprint towards the flag nonstop. The rain was splashing against his body and sliding down his visor as tracer rounds flew all around him, he slid behind a tree trunk that was knocked down and rotting at this point. Gaining his composure and his breath, he was getting ready to make a daring escape with the flag, it was only a few meters away but about 6 enemies were guarding the flag. It was going to be ballsy but Karl quickly formulated a plan in his head. 'It's time to kick ass and take names' Karl said to himself as he stood up and jumped over the log. Charging with a classic marine grade battle cry. Karl charged forward and hip fired about 10 rounds and one of them hit one of the guards in the visor, knocking the man down and he was counted dead. That was when the tracers started pelting the pine trees around Karl and one hit him in the arm, but he kept moving towards the flag. It had disabled his arm, so he made it go limp and dropped his assault rifle choosing to grab a grenade from his belt._

 _Karl jumped to the ground as bullets were flying around him. He had to get this flag, he had to win, his competitiveness being top notch at his young age._

 _Karl continued to crawl towards the flag and when he was in grenade throwing distance he was about to toss his own grenade when he heard a plop in the mud next to him. Quickly realizing what it was he grabbed it out of the mud and threw it towards the enemies. He heard a "Holy fuck!" from them before the grenade went off and he saw they were both walking away with their hands up. Karl then threw his own grenade at the remaining enemies, they didn't have time to react as it went off and 'killed' them both._

 _Karl let out a "Oorah!" and got up grabbing the flag and walking back to his base. He slowly walked back to the base at a good pace, wanting to rub it in the other teams face. He made it to their own pole and tied the flag around it. "Blue team wins!" He heard his drill sergeant say. Rogers ran to Karl and they high fived. "Fuck yeah Karl, you are some prodigy or some shit!" Rogers said as his team gathered around him, considering they were all out and he wasn't. At this point he was just a private trying to earn respect from his superiors._

* * *

 _4 Months later..._

* * *

 _Karl was walking around with his knew corporal stripes. He was proud of them now that he was holding a somewhat place of authority, but not much, he was a bitch compared to the sergeants._

 _Karl noticed a couple of marines chatting, "Yeah it looks like she has good sucking lips," he heard one of them say, "We should go talk to her." One of them said. Karl cringed at the disrespectful comment. He spotted the two marines going over to the surprisingly beautiful women that was sitting with a few other marines just chatting. They were in the recreation room, so it was not unusual to see a lot of marines here. But this girl stood out, she had long blonde hair tied in a military bun and a beautiful smooth face. She had a very athletic body and could tell she was probably a very fit. Not body builder muscular either._

 _"Hey there hot lips, mind if we have a nice chat." One of the two marines said, "No thanks, I prefer to chat with gentleman." She said in response. "I can be very gentle babe, no worries." He said in response. Karl was already tired of this shit. "Yeah we will take good care of you, very good care." The other one said while leaning in closer. "Well could you care to fuck off?" She said standing up and looking face to face with them. "Wow, feisty too." One of them said. Karl had enough at this point and walked over._

 _"You boys should leave her alone, this girl doesn't deserve to be talked to like that." Karl said sternly as he walked behind them. "Pfff, with a body like that she does, probably a slut on the inside anyways." One of the two turned around and said to Karl. He could see the anger in her face and needed to defuse this situation. "Look you can either leave her the fuck alone or you won't be fighting her you will be fighting me." Karl said stepping closer, now showing his tall and toned body in full view of the two marines. "What are you going to do about it." That quote alone made Karl smile. "I am going to beat the living shit out of you two." Karl said getting close enough to where he could be hugging one of them. "Okay try, dick." One of them said to Karl. "Okay." Karl said with a shrug and socked the one his was right in front of in the jaw, and he hit the floor with a large smack. "How about you?" Karl said turning to the other one who just backed off and even walked away from his friend and left the recreation room. Karl nodded at his decision and crouched down grabbing the other one on the floor holding his face, grabbing his shirt and pulling him up. "Treat women with respect you piece of street trash, we are all equal, especially in the ODST." Karl said picking the man up and pushing him away. The man just left without a word._

 _"My knight in shining armor." He heard the voice of the girl behind him. "It's nothing I just hate seeing other marines pushed around." Karl said turning around to talk to her. "Well I ought to say thank you, I was about to make them hurt a lot more than you did." She said as she sat down back on the bench. Karl walked around and sat on the other side. "I have seen you around the platoon, but never got your name." Karl said. "I am Private first class Sarah Brandy, 3rd squad." She said in response. Karl nodded, "I am Corporal Karl Kuhn, 1st Squad. A.K.A your knight in shining armor." Karl joked, which he usually didn't._

 _They talked the rest of the evening about where they were from, interests, and other things, but Karl was obviously more reserved than she was on personal information._

* * *

Karl then woke up. He looked around the room, seeing where he was he relaxed. 'Another dream or nightmare in one night, fuck me' Karl thought as he got up and began doing push ups, after about 50 he put his feet under his dresser on his back and began doing sit ups, after about 100 of those he got up and walked to the fridge, still having to stock up on groceries he grabbed a water and grapes. After drinking the water and eating the grapes he got on some combat pants and put on an advanced armored vest under his everyday shirt. After that he put on a hoodie that had ODST on the front and put on a UNSC cap on his head after that. He walked over to his utility belt and put it on checking the magazine he made sure it was non lethal which it was. He then put on his combat boots and a knife sheathe onto his belt, sliding the knife into it afterwards.

Karl stretched and walked out of his room, ready for the day ahead of him. No need to wear his armor as it was early and he was going to go to the market to buy some food. He walked out of the building and greeted the two guarding the front entrance as usual, walking out into the cool german autumn weather.

He made his way to the market which he was going to buy some fresh produce, which he preferred to fattening foods, after all obesity was an epidemic. But not really anymore with all the protein programs and stuff obesity was at a steady decline, at least Karl hoped so. As he walked to the market he knew people wouldn't know who he was so he thanked himself for that, except for a few people at the bar who would have seen his face. He just hoped it wasn't any of the guys who tried to attack him, then he remembered they got arrested and would serve a while in prison, or so Karl hoped.

It was a nice morning, not all too busy, but it was a monday and people were commuting to work. While he stopped at a traffic light a young man walked up next to him, no older than 16 he thought, probably on his way to school. "Are you a soldier?" The boy asked Karl, to which Karl looked down at the boy, "Yes I am." Karl said nodding to the kid. "Oh, well, I wanted to thank you. For defending our planet." Karl nodded again, "No problem at all kid, that is all over now." Karl said. The boy smiled at him and the traffic stopped and they were able to cross. The boy went a different way though as Karl continued to the market.

Karl finally made it to the market. He was looking around at the fresh meats, such as fish and beef. When he noticed someone in the corner of his eye. It was an interesting figure to say the least, a women. She was also wearing a UNSC hoodie but was covering her face. Karl looked like he didn't notice her and began walking into a secluded area. She did follow him but he kept his best not to notice and went to a secluded fruit stand. She walked up next to him to act like she was in line but Karl acted first, pulling his magnum and shoving her to the ground pointing it at her forehead as her hoodie fell off. Karl stopped instantly, he let them magnum fall to the ground and he did the same, just staring up at the sky. "No it can't be, you were confirmed dead by the doctor." He said to himself as he laid on the ground. "I'm sorry, I told the doctor to tell you that. It was stupid, but I didn't want you to worry." The voice said back. Karl got up and just stared at... Brandy. She was alive, was he dreaming? He didn't know. "Didn't want me to worry! That's all I have been doing Sarah!" Karl yelled at her as she got up. That was the first time he used her first name since they met. "You do not do that to a man, especially someone that loves you!" Karl yelled again, he was angry, she had lied to him. "You had a grave and everything.. What the fuck." Karl fell to his ass and backed against a wall, she walked up next to him and sat next to him. "It is complicated, but I did it and everyone but the UNSC thought I was dead." Brandy said as she put her arms around his torso. Karl didn't move, "Sarah, you made me cry, I don't cry." Karl said as he put his arms around her, "You have so much to explain." He said as he kissed the top of her head.

"What are you here for anyways." Karl asked as he began getting up again after getting out of her embrace. "Well, I came here for the same reason you are, I am guarding an ambassador. But not the same one, it is one a lot less reserved than yours, she is a trip indeed." Brandy said sighing deeply, "And when I saw you there yesterday, I had to find you again and be with you." She said starting to tear up. "It is okay, I am here for you, but I am still mad, lucky I don't hold a grudge." Karl said with a chuckle. "I will even let you stay in my room with me, I can't have a king sized bed all to myself, and we have a lot of catching up to do." Karl said as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her along down the street, completely forgetting he had to buy food, he didn't care right now, especially since he now had his 'dead' girlfriend with him again.'It is like from a shitty movie, god I hate you and love you Sarah' he thought to himself.

Karl didn't like showing affection in public, so he would kiss her when he got back to the embassy, he would kiss her for a long ass time.

They finally made it to the embassy and the guards knew who they both were so they let them in. He was greeted by Dao, "Looks like a dead girl came back to life huh." "Yep I hate that she lied to me, but it was in a much better interest, she will be getting punished for it though, probably a silent treatment for a week." Karl said jokingly. "Well I would much rather not be given a silent treatment but punished a different way." She said coyly. Karl blushed at this and just stared at Dao with an awkward smile. "Well I don't really mind what you guys decide to do, but at least she is alive, hell my wife would kill for a night alone with me after months of being apart." Dao said pretty straight forward. Karl just gulped and sighed. "Welp off we go." Karl said as he walked up the stairs followed by a laughing Brandy.

He hadn't wanted to picture it, but after the dream he had last night he wondered if it was fate or his mind playing tricks on him and his conscious just being a dick. But it had been a nightmare in his mind, not knowing what he was going to do, but he had to go meet the ambassador. He needed to get there before she did.

He walked into his room followed by Brandy and sat on his messy bed that he hadn't made on his rush out this morning. "Wow, what a messy room, you need a maid." Brandy said as she sat next to him. "Well I am a very busy man these last couple of days, speaking of I need to get my armor on and guard my VIP." Karl said as he got up and began to undress, he didn't mind and neither did Brandy, they were marines, they had seen each other naked 100 times over, it was only a little awkward now since they are in a relationship. "Damn have you gotten more in shape then you were before, or is it just me?" Brandy commented on him being a little more fit. "Well when you 'died' I lost all emotion I was regular me and became an emotionless ruthless killer. Karl said putting on his combat shirt and beginning to put on his armor, "As well I got some upgrades after I joined a special operations group. That well does some seriously crazy shit." Karl said as he put on the rest of his armor and turned on the shields. "See? And also the armor is lighter but stronger, but looks the same, pretty badass and it makes my life easier." Karl said as he put on his helmet. "Well that makes you look badass." Brandy pointed to his helmet and then put her hand back down supporting herself on the bed again. Karl nodded, "Well time to go into full guard mode, I will see you this evening." Karl said, "Just find something to do, or are you supposed to be guarding your VIP?" Karl asked as he turned off the shields. "I'm on break been here a couple months, and the ambassador is back on Sangheilios, I have to wait for her to get back." Brandy said, "I could clean your crap room and talk to Dao or something." Brandy said with a chuckle at her first comment. "Oh ha ha." Karl said through his helmet. He then took it off and walked over to Brandy, they shared a long kiss before Karl put on his helmet again and left the room leaving her alone and himself walking to the ambassador's office.

Karl sighed as he walked to the officer, it was mainly out of the stress of his 'dead' girlfriend really being alive this whole time. She had made a mistake she probably truly regretted, at least Karl hoped so. 'She didn't want me to worry about her' Karl thought to himself as he entered the office and walked over to his chair in the corner. 'Did she not want me to stress myself over her being injured, why didn't she just tell him to tell me that she was going to live no matter what and they could save her. Probably because I would worry.' Karl thought, 'I don't get the logic, but it worked, I did forget about her and move on' Karl sighed at the thought that her strategy worked.

After a while Soya walked in, "Good morning sergeant." She said to him and he just nodded in response, playing the quiet guard. A role he was all too familiar with. The usual uneventful day happened other than a few human visitors just talking politics with the sangheili women. He ignored politics, he was a soldier he didn't need to worry, he just tried to keep away whatever politics caused to the human race. It is what soldiers did best.

After another boring and uneventful day Karl got up and escorted her to her room. "Have a good rest Soya." Karl said as he waved her off and walked to his own room. He entered and just found Brandy watching some TV, sitting on his couch, the room was cleaner now. She had made his bed, cleaned all of his clothes off the floor. He thought he would make her life stress free so he walked over to his weapon locker and took off his armor there and put it all into it neatly, he then closed it and locked it. He went over to his dresser and put on his athletic shorts and shirt, what he usually slept in.

He walked over to the couch and sat down next to Brandy. She immediately cuddled up next to him and put her feet up onto the couch and leaned into his chest, Karl wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close. "Thanks for cleaning my room, I appreciate it." Karl said softly. "Mhm" Was all she said in response and just kept close to him.

They just sat like that for a while. holding each other close which they didn't do since before the base attack. Brandy raised her head and took Karl into a kiss, which he responded back with kissing her back passionately. She pulled away, "Karl, I love you." She said staring into his bright blue eyes. "And I love you Sarah." Karl said and they connected again. This time with even more passion. Soon Karl swiped her up bridal style off the couch, still kissing and they both fell onto the bed. Quickly getting rid of their clothes. Karl was a little hesitant as he finally got a hold of himself realizing his actions. "Karl." Brandy said softly, "It's okay, I'm ready if you are ready." Karl nodded as they went back to kissing, "You know it's my first time." Karl said as they got the rest of their clothes off and Karl got a full view of her beautiful body. "Mine too." She said as they went back to kissing. Soon they were making love into the night, this was a very special moment for Karl, something Karl would savior, as this was the women he was losing his virginity to and hers to him.

After a while they were both just laying in bed holding each other tightly, Karl looked into her eyes, seeing her pant. "Did I hurt you?" Karl asked as he thumbed some of her hair behind her ear, "No, if anything you did the opposite." She said with a smile, and she closed her eyes, soon falling asleep. Karl wish he could do the same but he had too much on his mind, another night of trying hard to clear his mind. He laid on his back with Brandy's arms wrapped around him, 'I will not let her be at risk again, not matter what, she can never come close to death again' Karl thought, 'I will protect her with my life.' Karl finally was able to clear his mind once again and closed his eyes to get a long good sleep.

* * *

Personally I'm not comfortable writing a Lemons scene, so this was the closest I could get. And what an amazing cliche plot twist, I hate myself.


	4. Chapter 4

Karl woke up to Brandy holding him, he checked his clock on the dresser next to him and it read 6:00, which was his wake up call, he would let Brandy sleep since she didn't have anything to do at the moment.

He walked over to his locker and put all of his armor on and his helmet. He checked his magnum per usual, everything checked out so he left the room quietly looking behind himself to make sure she was still asleep. She was so he closed the door and walked out into the hallway and decided to patrol the building. He made his way down the stairs and into the lobby, noting that there were two very tired guards yawning every five seconds. "You two can go get rest I'll take the shift until your replacements come, i'm sure Dao wouldn't mind." Karl said as he walked to the side of the front door. The two nodded and walked away. Karl sighed as he walked over and went outside the building.

He couldn't tell the temperature from his skin but his HUD read 50 degrees Fahrenheit. He sat outside and saw a couple other guards sitting on the wall, not asleep but they were just relaxing since nothing serious happened in a couple days. Karl nodded to the two and saw a patrol coming around the other side.

Karl saw some suspicious movement on the other side of the street. A man in a thick jacket was pacing with a phone in his hand, talking to someone and eyeing the building and Karl every few minutes. 'If that is not obvious I don't know what is' Karl said to himself and got on comms, "Dao I need you out here asap." Karl said speaking into his helmet. "Copy, on my way." He heard the man's voice over the radio. Karl waited a few minutes and the man was still there, probably plotting out patrols to whoever he was speaking to. Soon Dao walked through the door and into the cold weather, "What is it Kuhn?" Dao asked putting his marine cap on. "Don't act like you see him, but look at the guy over there, one suspicious SOB if I ever saw one, and I have fought a few insurrectionists in my time." Karl said pointing in the direction but not at the man. Dao observed him for a while and pressed onto his radio, "Bravo 1-1 I need you outside the building."

After a few minutes 4 men walked out the door in full riot gear. "We are here sergeant." A corporal responded to Dao's presence. "Okay, I want you to support the security here, and keep and eye on that man at the end of the street, Kuhn here will be here to, you listen to him." Dao said pointing at Karl. "Of course sergeant." He responded to Dao and ordered his 3 men to begin patrolling the front of the building. He walked over to Karl. "Kuhn, I am corporal Rodriguez." He said putting out a hand, Karl took it, "Sergeant Major Kuhn." Karl said with a nod and released his hand, "Just sit on the other side of the door, and keep an eye on that guy, we might have visitors tonight." Karl said as he sighed deeply.

"For fuck's sake, the last thing I want is an Innie attack, especially on Earth usually these guys are on colonies." Rodriguez said with a deep sigh. "Yep and I intend to make sure they don't get 10 feet from the building, if you don't mind me asking how many guys we got here?" Karl said as he unloaded his current magazine and put in lethal ammunition. "Well we had about 30 security staff and now that you guys arrived with 10 marines we are at about 42. And Dao has been managing us pretty well." Rodriguez said as he lifted up his visor up over his riot helmet. He was equipped with a shotgun and a 9mm pistol at his hip and was wearing think riot clothing from what Karl saw. "Well that should be enough to take care of whatever these assholes will try." Karl said.

"I will protect the ambassador though at whatever cost. Especially since these shits will most likely strike soon." Karl said as he looked at the man but didn't directly stare his visor at him or he would look like he noticed him. Then the man walked away into a building nearby and that was that. It's when he saw a large object coming out of it that he really jumped. "Fuck, comm Dao now!" Karl said as he took cover behind one of the large walls decorating the building just as a rocket flew and hit the building. "Holy fuck!" Rodriguez yelled as he took the shotgun off safety. Karl took his own pistol off safety and pulled it out of his holster, he peaked above the wall just to see several armed militants running across the road. Karl also heard his hired security companion yelling into his radio. Karl peaked over the wall and put a large 50 caliber slug into one of the militants running across, dropping him instantly. After Karl looked around he saw about 20 of them, 'Holy shit, 6 guys can't holds this off' Karl thought as he saw the other security aiming their shotguns at the militants. Karl could already see 4 dead militants.

While Karl was peaking he heard Dao over the radio, "We are under attack use of lethal ammunition authorized." 'Yeah no shit' Karl thought as he put a bullet into a militant trying to take cover behind a car, seeing him plop over and drop his weapon which was a military grade assault rifle he knew he was dead. Karl looked over and saw Rodriguez aiming his shotgun and firing into a militant, seeing him fall over dead Karl knew that he had loaded lethal ammo, must likely a slug, which were very lethal.

Karl ran over to Rodriguez, "They mad a breach in the building i'm going inside to defend the VIP, can you hold here until our guys mobilize?" Karl said ducking behind the wall while bullets were flying over his head.

"Yeah these guys are nothing, just make sure the sangheili is safe!" Rodriguez shouted to Karl, he nodded and shot the glass on the door so he could make quick entry. He ran into the building hearing all the alarms go off and saw the secretary hiding behind the desk, "Take my hand ma'am I will get you to safety." Karl said to her as he stood over the terrified women. "Th- Thank you..." She said as she nervously took his hand and he pulled her up and pulled her along to the second floor. He opened his door and pushed her inside, "Stay in here!" Karl yelled at her as he closed the door and ran to the ambassadors room. He didn't knock but slammed his shoulder into the door and it opened. She was not inside, 'Her office' Karl thought quickly and ran to her officer to be met with Brandy holding his rifle at the door. "It's okay i'm here." Karl said as Brandy ran to him and hugged him. He saw Soya behind the desk and sighed in relief. "Look I need you to keep her safe while I assist the defense. I need the rifle, take my Mag." Karl said as he held out his pistol and they traded weapons briefly. "Thanks for bringing her in here. Oh and Soya, she will keep you safe no worries." Karl said as he left the room quickly with his now better equipped weapon.

Karl sprinted to the lobby to be met with 10 armed guards now pulling out a couple wounded soldiers from outside, he could still hear gunshots being exchanged as he heard another explosion which caused a giant breach in the doorway, smashing all of the glass on the doors and causing a whirl of flames to engulf some of the guards.

Karl dove behind the front desk and looked to see if a round was chambered and it was, also with lethal ammo which Karl was going to make good use of on these next couple of militants.

He turned on his shields and while staying low ran to the wall next to the door that still had some decent cover. Peaking around cover he saw about 10 of them heading up the front steps towards the front door, Karl peaked out completely taking the group by surprise and he just unloaded the whole magazine into the large group of terrorists. He killed about 7 of them their blood all over the place. Karl dropped the gun knowing there was only one magazine in it and unsheathed his knife, ready to charge forward into action. However Rodriguez showed up with about 10 men and they began unloading buckshot into the reaming three with their shotguns. when Karl peaked again he saw the massacre in front of him and ran up to a body and took an assault rifle from the dead man's hands. "Rodriguez I need you and your team to follow me, we are going to rush the building that SOB came from and so did the rocket." Karl said as he waved for them to follow him.

They went across the street without taking fire and Karl could hear the sirens of emergency vehicles as well as most likely a lot of law enforcement. Karl got up next to the door into the building and looked the the team, "I want you to secure the outside and wait for police, I'm going in alone." As Karl suddenly cloaked and disappeared from the team's line of site. "Holy shit." One of the security said silently when he saw Karl cloak.

Karl was climbing up the fire escape on the side of the building and soon he found the window that the rocket came from, looking into it he saw about 5 armed men and a military rocket launcher on a table near the group, it looked like any other apartment except it was filled with illegal weapons. Karl came up with a plan in his head and he prepared a flash grenade that he had on his belt and he busted the window with his fist and chucked the grenade in. After the flash he charged in and shot all of them in the chest several times, except one. The last one was holding his eyes and screaming in some foreign language. Karl briefly slammed the rifle into the man's face more than likely knocking the man out. Karl put the rifle down and picked the man up onto his shoulder and came out the front door uncloaked to be greeted by about 30 riot policemen. "Stand down he is a friendly." Karl heard Dao shout. Karl gave the man to a couple of policemen and they took him away.

Karl sighed and walked over to Dao. "Casualties?" Karl asked him while pressing a button on his arm and turning off his shields. "3 wounded, no one was killed, thank god." Dao said and he checked his watch, "Only 8 o' clock it's going to be a long day." Dao said as they looked at the emergency personnel containing of ambulances, fire vehicles, and especially law enforcement, "The guy I captured has a lot to explain, better the UNSC interrogate him than me. He is a war criminal after all, considering this is considered an international outpost. I bet Hood would be happy to hear they got their asses kicked and not the other war around." Karl said as him and Dao walked back over to the building, Karl was covered in dust and even some small pats of blood from the close proximity of his breach and clear.

Karl waved Dao off as he went back upstairs to check on the girls, he was sure they were okay but he wanted to make sure because it was expected of him.

He walked to the office to find Brandy and Soya having a conversation, which he was glad of considering Brandy's bad history with Soya's race. "Whatcha ladies talking about?" Karl asked as he walked in, very stern and no games being played. "I was just having a conversation with her because she was scared." Brandy said getting up from a chair nearby and walking over to Karl. Karl took off his helmet and as Brandy got close he gave her a firm kiss. "I knew you would hold them off, how many were there, who were they?" Brandy started bombarding him with questions. "Okay slow down, they were insurrectionists and about 20 of em." Karl said walking over to Soya there was surprise on her face. "You did not look like what I thought you would look like human." She said to him, "What did you think I would look like?" Karl asked as he put his helmet back on and walked in front of the desk. "Well not like that." Soya said in response. Karl sighed and looked at his HUD, " Only 8:05, probably going to be very busy today." Karl mumbled to himself. "And you madam might have a lot of visitors today, to make sure you are okay, so be very careful I am really anxious after the attack." Karl said as he got up and walked right next to Soya standing tall and firm with his hands behind his back. "Oh and Brandy can I have my gun back, I have a job to do I will see you in our room when i'm off." Karl said. She walked over and put the magnum in his holster herself and took him in a hug, "Oh you sure will." She said to where only he could hear, Karl perked up at this and felt himself become very stiff, his body froze, he didn't want those thoughts especially after last night. "Ehem." Karl said before Brandy let out a chuckle and left the room leaving only him and Soya.

"So what did the female mean by that?" Soya asked in real curiosity. "Oh, nothing just common human talk, don't mind it." Karl said, easily hiding his blush underneath his helmet.

It was another long day and a few people came in to make sure Soya was okay, especially human diplomats and politicians. There were about 30 visitors in total, Karl stayed firm and intimidating making sure all would be assassins, if there really were any would not try laying a hand on her, Karl didn't even allow any of them a simple handshake. Then Hood came in which he saluted respectfully to. "So, I see that the attack had no harm done to you, that is good, that was a suicidal attack that they did, I bet Karl made sure of it." Hood said looking over to Karl. "I did what was necessary for her protection sir." Karl said nodding, "Well kid, I got some good comments about what you did to help in the defense. "I will have more men stationed here from now on, I hope that will not cause any problems." Hood said looking over to Soya, "And also I will have a second guard be stationed next to Karl." Soya nodded, "The protection will be much needed admiral, I thank you." hood then left the room with a respectful nod and Karl let out a deep sigh.

Soon after that a Sangheili entered the room wearing similar robes to Soya but his one was a little taller. They greeted in their own language which Karl didn't care about learning in his years considering there was no need. Soya then turned to Karl and said something while pointing to him, the taller one walked over and stood above Karl eyeing him carefully, "You human, are my sister's body guard?" She asked Karl in perfect english. Karl nodded, "That I am ma'am." "You protected her today, did you not?" She asked him again squinting slightly at him. "That I did ma'am, and once before, I will protect her with my life it is required." Karl responded confidently. The tall alien women in front of him nodded, "Well you better or you will have problems, do not ever let her get hurt, do you understand me human?" Karl nodded and kept his sternness show a little more. She turned away from Karl and went back to talking with Soya.

After a while she left and Karl escorted Soya to her room and did his usual goodbyes. He walked back to his room and walked in, exhausted more in mind then physically from the day's events. He saw Brandy was already laying under the covers, probably asleep. Karl got out of his armor and got on his usual sleepwear and quietly climbed into bed, sighing a little.

Brandy turned around and looked him in the eyes, "What?" Karl said after she just sat there for a while. "You are amazing you know that?" Brandy said smiling at him, "Well you are too, we are a couple, I mean there is no I in couple, at least I don't think." Karl said in response. "You need some work on your famous quotes." Brandy said chuckling at him and kissing him before turning around again. Karl put his arm around her and held her close. Soon they both fell to sleep, Karl especially fast considering his long day and mental tiredness that he really needed to sleep off.


	5. Chapter 5

Karl opened his eyes and looked to the night stand next to him, his clock read 4 am, 'Oh boy' Karl thought as he quietly slipped out of bed. He as quietly as possible went over to his little armory and put on his armor making sure not to wake up Brandy. Karl was a little anxious after yesterday's attack that had really shook up the UNSC, he was going to be ready to defend it again if need be but he knew the German local government would most likely add to the defense after the attack which wounded several security guards. Karl was going to get behind this even if it meant doing something very, very unethical. It was his job to protect Soya and that is what he was going to do even though he was turning to less civilized methods, he didn't get his amount of fame from being gentle.

Karl opened the door and closed it quietly behind him and took off his glove putting his finger over it and the door locked, he slipped his glove back on and continued down the stairs into the main lobby where at least 15 marines and security alike were patrolling. He just nodded to some of them and then pressed a button on his tactical pad and vanished from thin air. It was early in the morning so not many people were going to be awake. Karl walked outside from a hole in the wall created during the attack. He noticed Dao talking to what looked like a very high ranking official of what would be the Sangheili, after he looked closer with a zooming function he noticed the silver armor and the missing mandibles, 'Holy shit it's the arbiter' Karl thought to himself as he looked observed a little more. Karl shook his head and activated another function on his armor which caused a grapple to come out and he shot up to a roof, the buildings were closely packed so he would have no trouble hopping roof to roof. Which he did swiftly and without error.

Karl made it to the building in which the weapon stash was and saw the investigators swarming the building, most of them being ONI, 'Ah fuck not these guys' Karl thought as he looked at the few ONI agents most of them armed guarding the door. Karl wasted no more time and silently went in through the window he smashed earlier, he observed the investigators and listened to what they were talking about, after he heard an address that was all he needed. After hearing the address he mental noted it to himself and left the building quickly.

Karl climbed up the fire escape back up to the roof of the building and uncloaked himself, he needed to let it charge back up as it was now on about 10%. Karl stealthily made his way to the address repeating it to himself constantly and making sure not to forget it and check every house that he thought might be it, soon he made it to a large open field and at the end of the field stood at what looked like an abandoned mining facility, 'Fuck's sake that couldn't be more obvious of a bad guy spot if it tried' Karl thought to himself as he jumped off the building landing with a tuck and roll.

Karl made his way to the facility through the field completely prone, he crawled for what he thought was about 20 minutes before he made it to a hill that overlooked the facility. Karl took a deep breath and used his zoom function to see what was there, what he saw was no guards, but he spotted two unarmed what looked like soldiers in ODST armor but was painted red along the shoulder pads and knee pads, obviously stolen, Karl left his weapons except his knife at his room for movement and stamina reasons. They were unarmed too but he saw what were most likely assault rifles on their backs. Karl looked on his HUD and saw his power level was at about 80% charged, 'Okay gotta move hard and fast, time to fuck shit up' Karl thought to himself.

Karl hit the cloak button and began going full sprint at the two fakes, he was running at what his HUD was saying was about 14 mp/h which was pretty fast considering he was not a spartan. Karl primed his fist as he ran and uncloaked about 10 meters away from them, the two men spotted him but had difficulties grabbing the weapons at their backs, Karl ran forward and smashed his fist into the one on his left's helmet smashing the glass on impact, it hurt like a bitch but it worked with his momentum and element of surprise. The one on his right reached for his pistol but before he could do so Karl unsheathed his knife and stabbed it into the man's wrist, with a yelp of pain righty dropped his magnum and lefty went in for a punch on Karl which Karl hastily blocked with his left arm, Karl seeing this as an opportunity grabbed lefty's arm with his right arm holding it stiff and used his left fist to hit under his elbow and with a snap the man's arm went limp and he started screaming in pain his arm now being broken at the elbow. Righty unsheathed his own knife and swung at Karl hitting nothing but armor, Karl trained his focus to righty now and they started to circle each other, Karl studying his every move, Karl seeing the man was going to go for a stab at the chest was ready for it when Righty attacked him. Karl slashed his knife at the man's arm cutting it and causing the man to wince and pull his arm back. The man went for another stab which Karl this time threw his hand out and grabbed Righty's wrist and pulled him forward, Right lost his balance and went straight into Karl's knife which had no problem digging deep into his throat. Karl let them man plop to the ground, Karl walked to the corpse and cleaned the knife on the man's combat pants.

Karl noticed Lefty trying to crawl away to a button near the door. Karl walked over and put a foot to the man's back holding him to the ground, "Where you think your going asshole?" Karl asked as he then took a knee on the man's back and put a knife to the man's throat. "Please, please don't kill me..." He started stuttering to Karl, obviously in a lot of pain. "Then what the fuck is this place?" Karl asked pulling the knife closer to his throat. "It's a base of operations, for the insurrection, which you are going to regret attacking." Lefty said panicking to try and save his life. Karl was in fool serious mode and would not let him go very easily, if at all. "Okay and why is that?" Karl said bending down to the man's now turned away face. "Because, they saw everything that just happened, they will be ready for you to come through that door, look." He said nudging his head up to a camera. Karl laughed and then slit the man's throat blood oozing out from the large gash now in his throat. Karl simply ast up and waved at the camera as happily as he could.

"Hey guys, so you going to let me go with that information or are you going to fight?" Karl asked into the camera before picking up the magnum in the dirt chambering a round and putting it into the camera. Karl picked up one of the assault rifles and all the magazines he could carry which were about 7 in total. He also noticed two lovely grenades on each corpse which he gladly took and put on his own belt.

Karl walked over to some old mining equipment and took cover behind it, he was going to wait all morning if he had to, but he wasn't dumb enough to bust through the large doors not knowing what was on the other side.

After a few minutes Karl heard a door opening, "Find that fuck!" He heard someone yell, Karl looked over the mining vehicle and saw about 10-20 militia armed with various UNSC weapons mainly assault rifles and Battle Rifles. "We will kill you fucker!" He heard another yell. He then cloaked, he was going to have a bit of fun. "Will you now? How cute." Karl yelled out at them, most of them turned in random directions and had no idea where it came from. Karl unhooked a grenade and chucked it over his cover, he peaked over to see it go off and saw several of the militia fly all over the place and limbs go flying, 'Modified grenades, jesus' Karl thought to himself as he saw the irregularly large explosion befall him.

Even more of them panicked and started to back up, soon they were all in a large half circle around the door, Karl lost his element of surprise, 'Oh well' He thought to himself as he took another grenade off his belt, still cloaked he walked over to the rear of the entrance and climbed on top of it, casually taking the pin off he primed it and dropped it behind all of them in the half circle, them not expecting it to come from above them all screamed as the grenade went off sending blood and limbs everywhere. Karl tried to take cover but blood splashed all over his armor, making him look like hell in two different ways.

After a couple seconds of wiping his face mask of the blood he dropped down from the large concrete structure and saw the door wide open and no one guarding it except the corpses of the 15 men surrounding him, all blown to pieces and most of them missing important body parts. Karl put the assault rifle to his shoulder as he walked into the facility, ready for anything. What he didn't expect was 4 more of the ODST doppelgangers to come up all armed with shotguns. Karl quickly took cover behind a pillar in the hallway but not before a shotgun burst hit him in his stomach, the wind was knocked out of him for sure but he only felt a slight 'punched in the gut' feeling. He knew his armor saved him.

"We will kill you!" He heard one of them yell, "Don't be too confident fuckboy." Karl said as he put his gun around the wall but not his body and unloaded into the hallway, he heard some shouts and curses, but no screams of pain, 'Maybe these guys are a real fight' Karl though to himself as he loaded another magazine into his AR. He heard footsteps and immediately reacted when a shotgun turned around the corner of the pillar, Karl ducked as he heard the shotgun go off and felt the pellets hit the top of his helmet, he then heard a shout of agony and turned to it to see one of them was on the ground with his body full of holes, 'He shot his friend holy shit' Karl tried not to laugh, he stood up and turned the corner as he heard the pump of the shotgun and smashed his fist into the man's visor making him stumble back, Karl took advantage and point blank shot him several times in the heart, the man fell back as the bullets entered his body and he slammed into the wall, bleeding from about 30 different places in his chest. Karl took cover again and this time took a grenade from his belt, just as he was preparing to throw it a hand hit him hard in the visor making him drop the grenade at his feet, Karl didn't think he acted instead. Karl saw the man who did that and took him hard by the shoulders, Karl pulled the man down hard using all his strength to pull the man ontop of the grenade. Which he did, somehow with a ton of luck and in split second actions. Karl jumped across the hall to the pillar on the other side and heard the explosion and not even a scream, only the explosion. He turned from the pillar again to see the man was not even there anymore, only blood and guts all over the walls.

Karl saw the last one loading his shotgun, Karl quickly aimed his AR at the man and began opening fire, seeing the man flinch and begin twitching as the bullets were entering his body. After the ammo counter hit zero and there were no more bullets Karl looked up to see that he was now laying against a his own cover now full of bleeding holes and not unmoving. Karl let out a long breath of air and knew his job was done here, he didn't want to go any further, he checked the time on his HUD and it was almost 6 am, he had to get back and fast. At least he gave the UNSC a great advantage to breach into the building.

Karl cloaked himself and walked out of the building taking a second to smash the control panel at the main door so it could not be repaired, at least not fast enough to stop the impending doom that these terrorists were about to face. Karl was not tired but he was just worn out, after being shot and hit several times he knew there would be bruising and his very bloody armor would make anyone suspicious, so he would have to cloak until he got to his room and changed and cleaned his armor. Luckily it would look like his armor was like this from his previous actions during the defense of the embassy and he wouldn't have a hard time explaining to everyone why he looked like he did.

After a long invisible hike he saw several police and UNSC warthogs pass by, mainly transport ones that had large amounts of room in the back for transporting plenty of soldiers. He knew they didn't see him so he continued on as usual towards the embassy.

After a good 30 minute walk he made it to the embassy which was pretty much the same as when he left earlier, he walked in and after he was in a safe location from any eyes or cameras he uncloaked himself and took his helmet off, making sure to wipe at least most of the blood off of it. Karl walked up to his room and took his glove off and saw how messed up his hand was, a couple of the fingers were way out of place, and he didn't notice this until just now, he winced at how crooked and bad they looked. He quickly unlocked the door and walked in closing it behind him he ran over to the fridge and took some ice out of the freezer which he put in a baggy next to him. Karl took some morphine from his aid kit and jabbed it into a exposed part of his arm, after that he quickly and less painfully popped each finger back into place. Usually with a sickening pop or snap, he had had worse injuries before but it was still sickening to the stomach. After he finished his quick surgery he took all his armor off and put it in his makeshift armory, he quickly changed into his sleeping clothes.

Just as he sat down on the couch and put the ice pack on he saw Brandy squirming in the bed, probably trying to find him. She quickly shot up and looked around and soon locked eyes with Karl, she quickly brought a smile to her face and stepped out of bed and walked over to him. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead, "Man you stink." She commented openly after taking a quick stretch. "Yeah sorry morning workout." Karl said as he pulled his arm up to tease her with his stench, "Ew, what about the hand?" She asked in general concern as she walked over and sat next to him taking his injured hand into her own soft hands, "Oh, that, from my breach and clear stunt yesterday morning, which I hastily smacked someone and well. Dislocated a couple fingers." Karl said getting up from the couch, "I need to shower, I'll be out in a few." Karl said as he stepped into their surprisingly large bathroom, which Karl has really only been in to use the restroom or shower, he didn't really care what it looked like.

Karl took all of his clothes off and stepped into the shower, he turned on the water which was ice cold at first, but felt good on his wounds, then when it got warm it felt even better to make his wounds feel better. After a quick shower he stepped out and looked in the mirror and saw himself without his armor and only took this time to observe himself. His fit body and slight stubble which he needed to shave, his handsome face and short military cut hair. He then saw the bruise on his upper stomach from the shotgun that had hit him in the gut. It was large an purple but it did not worry him, it would heal. With a sigh he put his towel around his waste and walked out. Getting quickly changed while Brandy just stared. "See something you like?" Karl asked as he put on his under garments. "Yes." Was all he heard from his girlfriend and they both let out a chuckle. Karl put on the rest of his clothes which was a basic combat uniform which is what a common marine would wear except his was black and had ODST on his left shoulder patch, and his rank on the right.

Karl then put on his matching UNSC hat and also a tactical vest, he then put a communicator in his ear and put a belt around his waste which he put his magnum and several magazines of ammunition. Karl put on his matching black boots and tied a knife sheathe around his calf which he put his combat knife into. Karl was ready for the day ahead, but he wasn't going to be in full battle gear which he was aware of, but was aware he was showing his face so he took off his hat and put a skull balaclava over his head and then put the hat back on. Now he was ready, he wasn't going to wear his armor again until it was clean, which he would do before he went to bed tonight.

He walked over to Brandy and gave her a tight hug and she raised his mask and they shared a kiss before he put it back over his face and he left the room. "Be good while I am gone, no parties okay?" Karl said as he held the door open to leave, "No promises." Brandy said with a sly smile, Karl chuckled as he closed the door and went on his way to a good day of guarding, which his mood was improved from the good deed he did today in helping out the UNSC anonymously, of course.


	6. Chapter 6

Karl made his way to Soya's officer and entered the room to of course find her not there, he was the first one in the office since he got here, it was mainly so if any early morning would be assassins were in the officer he would catch them and end them before they tried anything.

He walked over to his chair in the corner of the officer and sat down, he put his elbow on his leg and put his chin on his palm and sat there, just thinking of recent events. Brandy turning out to be alive, 'How cliche' he thought, then the thought of guarding his once enemy and saving her a couple times already only being here for like 4 days. Then him fighting the Insurrection, the damn terrorists that have been causing the UNSC many problems for years, but their appearance on Earth was even more worrying to Karl, considering they were ballsy enough to try and attack the embassy and ballsy enough to make their headquarters outside of the city. But Karl made sure to put and end to that charade this morning, hopefully helping out a lot in what would be an assault on the old facility.

Karl heard the door open but noticed it wasn't Soya that came in it was Admiral Hood, Karl immediately stood up and popped a salute. "At ease." The old Admiral said as he took a chair from the front of the desk and sat it down next to Karl then sitting himself onto the chair. "You did it, didn't you?" Hood asked looking straight into Karl's eyes. "Well, yes I did. I hope it didn't cause any trouble." Karl said as he started to move uneasily in his chair. "Well, I am not mad but a bit disappointed, you had no orders to do what you did, but I can not say that I don't appreciate your reasoning for raiding the place. Just don't do it again, unless me or your superiors say so, got it?" Hood said standing up once again. Karl nodded and sighed, "Yes sir, I was just protecting the ambassador." Karl felt a little guilty, he had for once not followed orders, but he did what was right, right? "Good glad you understand, now go on with your duties today, and don't wonder off from the ambassador." Hood said and then he left the room like a ghost.

Karl just sat there, Hood was a good observer, yeah sure Karl could have been the only one to do it, considering probably he was not at the embassy and soldiers probably saw him cloak and mentioned it to Dao.

Karl sighed again, he was trying not to guilt trip himself over what he did, he disobeyed orders for the first time ever, 'Fuck me' he said to himself as he leaned back in his chair with his hands now behind his neck. Soya walked in a few minutes later and went to her desk as always, "It seems you changed your outfit." Soya said while looking back from her holo documents to Karl in the corner. "Yep sure did, my armor was a bit messy from the attack, so I am going to have to clean it, but I still look a bit intimidating right?" Karl said casually. "Well not as much, but you still look like you could harm anyone in this room." Soya said monotone as she went back to her drafts. Karl nodded and looked back to the ceiling.

At around 3 pm someone finally walked in to see Soya, it was a Sangheilli warrior this time, he was a large elite, he seemed to be a minor and him and Soya had a casual conversation in their language and Karl made sure to keep a close eye on the energy sword at his hip and the plasma rifle on his back. It didn't feel much better to his stomach that he had killed many of their kind and openly said it to Soya that he did, he just hoped she didn't mention it to him and he got angry. Though she didn't really look at Karl at all during the conversation other than when the elite first walked in and saw Karl and she probably mentioned he was her bodyguard.

Karl was broken from his thoughts when he felt a large presence in front of him, "Human." He heard the deep growl of the elite's voice. He was surprised when the elite put his hand out to him, "I am Jede 'Nulcam." Karl took his hand and shook it. "Sergeant Major Kuhn, that's my rank and surname." Karl said with a strong voice to appear somewhat threatening. "Ah, well I am Soya's sibling, we have been separated for some time now and I have come to visit from my duties. If you do not mind me being here for a while." Jede said as he let go of Karl's hand. "I don't mind, just make sure your rifle and sword are powered off, and I will have no issues, and no physical contact." Karl said very seriously. Jede nodded and turned around and sat in the visitor chair on the opposite side and they started off in their conversation again.

Karl just sat there as usual but making sure to keep Jede and Soya in his line of sight.

Karl lifted his shirt and saw the time was 8 pm and they were still talking Soya normally went off to her quarters at around 8:30. So they couldn't talk for much longer. After another 25 minutes he noticed the conversation finally slowing down and they both got up and hugged, Karl shot up and noticed nothing suspicious so he sat back down when they broke contact and Jede left with a nod to Karl. Karl sighed and looked annoyingly at Soya, "Remember my rule Soya, no physical contact." Karl said in a joking tone, he was not in a very serious mood anymore. "Well he meant no harm, he tends to be soft like a furry animal at times, despite being a trained warrior." She says in a matter of fact tone and waved for him to exit the room with her, Karl got up and walked next to her, a little shorter not considering he was not wearing his armor but he still stood a good 6 feet tall.

Karl escorted her to her room as usual and waved her off as she entered her room, he could tell she was in a better mood because she actually waved back, it seems her brother made the mood much better in general, 'Man why does that guy make joy contagious' Karl thought to himself as he strolled to his own room.

When he entered he found Brandy gone, for a second he started to panic, looking around the room looking for any sign of her, then he spotted a note on the bed, he went over to the bed and picked up the note looking closely at it, ' _Karl, went to market to buy us some food because you really lack any good food, will be back in an hour or so',_ and like that the note ended, on the bottom he saw a time stamp, it was marked 6:30. It was around 8:30 now, and once again Karl started to panic, worried that something horrible happened to the women he loved, he couldn't bare it. Karl immediately dashed out of the door, still wearing his gear so if something did happen he could do something about it.

Karl went out of the front door and saw Dao organizing some patrols and quickly Karl ran up to him, "Hey Dao, you seen Brandy in the past hour?" Karl asked urgently, "Not sure, last I saw her she said she was on her way to the market." Dao said with a shrug, "Hey your not in your armor, glad you still look battle ready though." Dao noted as Karl walked off into the street trying to keep his composure as much as possible, he felt like he was going to lose it, the thought of his girlfriend being kidnapped was killing him inside.

Karl walked as fast as possible to the market where he would see her, Karl wasted no time going into the market, it was dark out now and there were only street lights on and it was a very peaceful night. Most market stalls would be closed but he had to look anyways and see if she was there. He quickly entered the market and saw there was only one stall left open with a small frail looking old man running it and it looked like he was selling most likely fish. Karl strolled over looking as non threatening as possible, "You going to rob me?" The old man said straight forward as he saw what Karl was wearing. "No sir I was just wondering if you happened to see a women a couple hours ago." Karl said as he got closer, "You going to rob her?" He asked Karl, "No sir, I am her commanding officer," Karl said as he showed himself completely to the man, showing all of his UNSC gear. "Oh I am so sorry young man, can you describe this girl?" The old man asked sighing with relief, Karl could tell the man was tense from up the road. "Blonde hair, green eyes, about 5'9, most likely wearing UNSC shit aswell." Karl said as he described Brandy from memory. He could tell the man was thinking, "Ah, yes a young lady like that walked into a bar about an hour ago." The old man said as he began swiping his counter with a wet cloth.

"Okay, thank you sir." Karl said as he let out a sigh of relief and took out 10 dollars from his pocket and handed it to the man which he took gratefully.

Karl walked away and went to the same bar that he was at a few days ago to let some stress out and nearly got mugged at, which had made his day when he fucked those asshole wannabe Insurrectionist's asses.

Karl entered the bar and he heard the bar go completely silent as he walked in, he saw all the eyes glaring at him, "Go back to your drinks, UNSC business." Karl said loudly and everyone went back to doing their thing, the bar was not at all crowded but was not empty, but he didn't see Brandy anywhere. Karl walked up to be bar keeper and she went wide eyed as he approached her. "You seen a blonde with green eyes about yay tall? Just kidding let me see your manager." Karl said as he leaned on the bar and watched around closely. She walked off to the back room and soon a man wearing a plaid shirt and denim jeans walked out from the officer, "Do you need something sir?" The manager asked and Karl could see the man sweating a bit, "No worries you didn't do anything wrong I just want to know if a blonde girl about 5'9 was in here, and also I want to see all recent purchases." Karl said in a very hard tone that made the man shake, "No worries you did nothing wrong, but she did." Karl said trying to calm the man down. "Usually we do not allow that without a warrant, but I will get them." He said as he ran to the back room again. After a minute or two he came out again and handed Karl a list of names, Karl scanned down until he saw her name which was indeed on the list that she had used her card to buy a couple of drinks.

"When did you see her last?" Karl asked him even more serious now. "She left with her boyfriend, she was not feeling well, we made sure she made it to her vehicle safe and sound sir." The barkeep spoke up. Karl fumed at this, someone had drugged her, drugged his women, but how? 'Must have been one tricky son of a bitch' Karl thought as he felt rage fill his veins. "What did he look like and I want that man's name and address, cause that is not her boyfriend, I am." Karl said trying to keep his cool as much as possible. Karl saw their faces go red, "Oh my god... He is a regular let me get his billing info." Said the manager as he sprinted to the office again and came out a second later. Karl took it out of his hand and read the note carefully, then he saw the billing address. He gave the paper back, "Thank you for the help." Karl said quickly as he sprinted out of the bar at full speed.

The man lived nearby and Karl was full sprint towards the address, he saw the number and it was in an apartment building. Karl entered and he saw some of the workers have a look of shock as he busted in, "UNSC business, out of the way." Karl shouted as he charged up the stairs full sprint. He loaded his magnum with lethals but it was not for the man, it was for his breaching strategy. Karl made it to his floor and ran down the hall and saw the door. Karl put the magnum up to the lock and then put the magnum on safe, he put it back in his holster and took a few steps back.

Karl went full sprint and bashed his shoulder into the door, he looked into the room to see Brandy naked on the bed and the man above her, just about to enter her, Karl fumed and went full sprint with a raging battle cry and put both of his arms around the man's torso, shoving the man off of her and into the wall which cracked at the impact. Karl grabbed the man by the throat and with inhuman strength pulled the man off the floor and pinned him to the wall with his hand still on his throat using that to hold the man against the wall. "YOU SICK FUCK!" Karl screamed as he put a fist into the man's stomach, Karl looked down and saw the man's crotch and he pulled a knee hard into the man's crotch making him scream in pain. Karl threw him across the room and into a dresser, completely smashing it. Without haste Karl walked over to him and started punching the man's face several times, not caring if he broke his knuckles. After a few punches Karl backed off and saw the man was unconscious and lying on the floor, his face bloody and well so was his crotch.

Karl quickly ran over to Brandy and picked her up into his arms, she was completely naked so he quickly wrapped blankets around her what seemed like very woozy body, she had no clue what she was doing, she couldn't even open her eyes all the way. Karl felt his heart drop at what was about to happen if he hadn't shown up a second too late. He set her down in the corner of the room and finally took the time to look around. It was a messy room like all the man did was this kind of shit. He saw the man on the floor who looked to be about normal build not too fat or skinny, and had a quite handsome face, he sees why he was able to pull this off and would definitely question Brandy later on her idiocy.

Karl didn't bother to call the authorities he would let the workers walk in onto this mess, Karl picked up Brandy into his arms again bride style and looked on the floor where her clothes were, he quickly picked those up and put them on top of Brandy's limp body.

Karl started towards the elevator and entered it putting to ground level and they quickly went back down to the lobby. Karl walked in and saw several police officers and they all turned towards Karl as soon as he exited the elevator and started towards him with their guns at the ready. "Sir put the women down!" One of them shouted, Karl complied and softly laid Brandy on a seat in the lobby. "Now come towards us slowly. Backwards." The same one said again. Karl turned around and looked at the officers and in return they all aimed their weapons at Karl, "Stand down, I'm Sergeant Major Karl Kuhn and I saved this women from being sexually assaulted, she was drugged and brought up here by a man in room 46, you will see the mess there and for future reference, he deserved it, you will find the drugs in her system and on his bed, if you want to question me in further time I will be in my room in the embassy." Karl said sternly as he picked up Brandy again, "For now she needs to get some rest." Karl said as he softly got Brandy into a more comfortable position in his arms. Surprisingly the police holstered their weapons nodded and let Karl pass which he mumbled a 'thank you' to all of them as he left the building and walked back to the embassy.

While he was walking he felt Brandy wiggle a little in his arms, maybe she was starting to get her senses back, or maybe she was sound asleep and had no clue what was going on.

Karl made it to the embassy and quickly walked over to their room and opened the door, he walked Brandy over to the bed and sat her down in it, leaving the covers on her he would let her change in the morning, Karl exhausted and worried sick took off his hat, then mask and earpiece and he took his tactical vest off his sweaty body. Karl walked over to Brandy again and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and walked over to the couch and sat down, he was going to have trouble going to sleep tonight so he decided to stay awake in the dark calmness and stillness of the room.

Karl was just sitting staring at Brandy he was worried sick and he would of personally loved to kill that man but knew if he did he would be in more trouble than he was probably going to be in. Karl sighed as he leaned back on the couch and stared up into the ceiling, trying to think happy thoughts to clear his mind.

After a while he felt his eyes get heavy as he cleared his mind and let sleep take over, it would be a restless and uncomfortable sleep on this couch but it was sleep none the less and Brandy would be awake when he awoke so he could explain everything to her and she could explain everything to him, how could she have fallen for his tricks, was she that much of a light weight, she could have been intoxicated by the time he showed up and she wasn't thinking straight, there were so many causes flooding his mind, but he would most likely find out from Brandy herself in the morning, when he wasn't still pissed, sad, and happy at the same time, a very bad mixture for him.


	7. Update on my updates :P

Hey guys I just wanted to update everyone on why its been a while since I have updated its because I have hit a massive writer's block and school is picking up which I need to focus all my attention on. It will be a while before I ever update this story so please wait patiently until I do so, Just thought I would tell all my followers why I havn't updated in a while, and to be honest I have kind of run out of ideas and might move on to bigger and better stories, so sorry if you are here for just the halo story cause i might change it up.

Thank you for reading,

Stevie


	8. Good News!

Good news everyone, in my absence I have thought of some good ideas of where this story will be going and have started work on a new chapter. Expect it to be out during the end of the week as I will work on it periodically and it will be very long so do not worry that it will be a short and lazy chapter that I will release as a place holder.

Love,

Stevie


	9. Chapter 7

Karl woke up on the same couch he fell asleep in. He looked around himself and saw Brandy still asleep in the bed, he didn't even think twice before quickly getting in his outfit of the previous day. He slipped on his vest and put his magnum into his holster and walked out of the room. He had to admit he was upset, he was thinking of just ending their relationship if it was going to endanger his mission. He shook his head of these thoughts and walked to the entrance of the building, he saw the same patrols as the previous day and still clean up crews around area cleaning up debris and repairing the building.

"Kuhn, I need to speak with you." Karl heard a voice say and he turned around to see Dao walking up to him, not looking in the best mood. "What is it?" Karl asked in a monotone voice. "Come here and I will tell you, in private." Dao said as he waved his hand towards Karl to follow him, Karl followed Dao behind a corner in a hallway away from the entrance. "Listen up Kuhn, rumor has it that Soya is going to be returning to Sangheilios." Dao said as he looked at Karl straight in the eye, even through his sunglasses Karl could feel the stare. "And why does this concern me?" Karl asked as he stared back just as harshly. "Well if she goes you are following, and that's an order from Hood himself that you protect her at all costs, which means I will lose the baddest SOB in this embassy. I also heard that not all sangheili like this alliance either so there may be assassins, which is another reason you will be going with her." Dao said as he looked around Karl's shoulder. Karl only nodded and rubbed his chin, "Best get my armor clean then." He said as calmly as possible even though he was going crazy inside with questions.

Karl left Dao to do his duties and walked to Soya's office to find her there with the same elite he had seen yesterday being her sibling he just sighed and walked across from her. "Is it true we are leaving for Sangheilios Soya?" Karl said in a matter of fact tone. She looked at him for a second and nodded, "Yes it is true Sergeant Kuhn, and you will be accompanying me on the journey there, sorry it was so quickly something turned up and I must return home. We will leave by 5 pm." Karl nodded and left the room which means he will have to get packed and ready to board a ship to Sangheilios.

Karl entered his room to see a still sleeping Brandy, he sighed and walked over to his armor, which was clean and repaired already. Karl just shrugged and took off his current gear and slipped on his armor. He loaded a magazine into his rifle and made sure it was on safe, he mag locked it to his back. Karl looked back at Brandy and didn't even bat an eye when he left the room. He knew she would be upset, but he was upset aswell, 'how could she have been so stupid?' Karl thought to himself as he walked into the main entrance.

Karl was ready to leave at any moment, he didn't bring any of his belongings except some extra clothes and rations, he had no idea what Sangheili food would taste like.

He sat there at the front of the Embassy quietly and was just staring down any civilians that walked past, not meaning to look threatening but he made a good point to anyone to stay away, it would be useful when he was escorting Soya to their ship.

"Human I am ready to leave." Karl heard the somewhat feminine voice of Soya behind him. He didn't say anything, he just nodded to her and pointed for her and her brother to get into the warthog. Both of them put all their belongings in the warthog and Karl knew they were ready to go. They were without any escort except for himself and her brother, which he hoped would be enough to stop any attack. Karl turned his shields on and started the warthog, he started going down the streets as quickly as possible, making sure to try and not stop for any reason.

When they finally were stopped by a red light it was too quiet, at least too quiet for Karl. There were cars all around him, which was good for cover. After years of military service he good sense the danger, he knew it was coming he just didn't know when, his mind started filling itself with crazy thoughts, 'maybe someone knew when they were leaving and told the terrorists', 'maybe her brother is actually not for the alliance'. Karl turned around and looked at her brother, he seemed calm and not jittery or anything.

Just then Karl saw movement to his left in a building, that's when he saw it, a grenade, flying right towards the warthog, Karl on instinct went to protect his VIP in any way he could so he jumped from his seat and put as much of his body over hers as possible. The grenade went off as it hit the warthog meaning whoever threw it was smart enough to cook it. The grenade went off Karl felt the shrapnel and shock wave alike hit his shields. He looked at Soya and she was wide eyed. Her brother looked shocked as his armor had dents and scratches everywhere. Karl immediately grabbed Soya bridal style and took her out of the warthog and hid her under it as it was the safest place to put her at the time. Karl looked at Jede who had his energy sword out and was growling at an unknown location before Karl saw about 5 insurgents come around an alleyway with shotguns. He quickly chambered a round and took his rifle off of safety, but before he could shoot he looked up from the side of the warthog to see Jede holding one of them by their throat and slashing at another. Karl needed to help him as the other three were shooting their large slugs into Jede, for now his armor was taking it, but not for long.

Karl vaulted over the hog and put the AR to his shoulder and put 10 rounds into each of the insurgents shooting Jede, he saw their blood hit the wall they were standing near and knew they were dead when their limp bodies fell to the ground. Karl ran over to Jede who had already snapped the one he was holdings' neck and had stabbed the other one near him. "Human, is my sibling okay!?" Karl heard Jede shout, "Yes she is fine I put her under the hog, there may be more, you protect her as well as you can while I watch this alley and call for reinforcements." Karl said quickly. Jede just nodded and ran behind the warthog, Karl heard the two of them speaking in sangheili. He just sighed and shook his head. He walked over to one of the bodies and squatted next to it. He looked at it closely, he then looked at the weapon, it was not outdated, it was a very modern variant of the standard UNSC shotgun. 'Some really heavy planning went into this shit' Karl though as he heard some pelicans approaching. Karl let out a sigh of relief and ran back to the warthog. "Looks like help is here ladies and gentlemen, but I didn't call for it." Karl said as he loaded a new magazine into his AR.

'This might or might not be a good thing' Karl though to himself as the first pitch black pelican landed, the door quickly opened and several armed ONI agents stepped out with a very important looking person coming out after. She was dressed in a standard ONI uniform but appeared to be very high ranking. The ONI agents quickly surrounded Karl and the Sangheili.

"Sergeant Major Karl Kuhn, looks like you had quite the fight here?" She said in a very serious tone, 'Some real shit fuckery is going on right now' Karl thought as he was trying to come up with an answer. "You bet, we have it handled I'm contacting the UNSC right now." Karl said as he went to turn on his comm. she quickly put her hand up, "No need sergeant, we have already done that, well told them to stand down, as well as emergency services." Karl sat motionless, he couldn't believe what he had just heard, and he knew exactly what the bitch would say next. "You and your VIPs are going to have to come with us, direct orders from the director of ONI." "Why the fuck do we have to do that?" Karl asked just as harshly. "Because you are wanted for murder sergeant, don't you remember that poor man in the hotel yesterday?" She said with venom on the tip of her tongue. Karl froze at this he felt his blood boiling in the few seconds after she said that. "Why take them then? To start a war you stupid ONI bitch." Karl said as he began to walk closer to her. She quickly drew her 9mm pistol, which he guessed was for self defense. Karl just chuckled at this gesture but then all the other agents fully armed with assault rifles and shotguns had their guns trained on him.

Then Karl burst into full blown laughter, he would have seemed to die from laughter. All the ONI agents stood there in confusion and all looked shocked at Karl's reaction, not at all intimidated. Karl was holding his stomach and had dropped his own AR. "Sergeant! This is no laughing matter!" The women said, but Karl kept laughing. Then he stopped as quickly as he started, they let their guard down as he suspected, in a matter of milliseconds he had thrown two flashbangs in the air and they went off and quickly blinded all the of the ONI agents. All that were heard were large 50 caliber bullets from his magnum going off. No other shots were fired except Karl's.

The only one left was the ONI officer which Karl quickly grabbed by the throat and picked up. He turned off his visor so she could see his eyes and he hers. She looked afraid and she was crying. "All of you ONI assholes are pussies and cowards, now here is what is going to happen..." Karl looked around and he saw Jede standing in front of Soya and looking around frantically. Karl looked back "... I'm going to need your pelican, and I will make sure to tell the UNSC that you planned this attack on me and my escort. Oh and I will let you live, because I don't hurt girls." Karl said as he threw her to the ground without any mercy. He turned his visor back on and walked over to the pelican and waved for Jede and Soya to come on, which they did quickly, they grabbed all of their things and quickly ran over to Karl.

Karl moved up the the cockpit and saw the two pilots oblivious to anything that was going on. He pointed his magnum to their heads and only needed to say one word. "Out." On that command they both quickly put their hands up and left the cockpit. Karl pressed a button on the control panel and the door to the pelican quickly closed. "It may not be comfy but it is something, where is your ship?" Karl asked as he walked back into the cargo and transport area. "It is docked at Onyx station in orbit human, they are awaiting our arrival." Soya said, Karl could tell she was scared by the tone of her voice, he just sighed and walked to the pilot's seat and quickly turned it on. He had the basics of flying but he was not trained a pilot, he flew once or twice when he needed a quick escape but he did not commonly fly, his best landings were crash landings after all.

He took off and put full power to engines, making sure to drive carefully to mind the two in the back. Soon he was on his way out of the atmosphere and flying full speed towards Onyx station, which was a diplomatic platform and hard no weapons on it which ONI could use to shoot him down. Now going about 1000 km/ph towards the station which happened to be right above Berlin he would have no problems getting there quickly before a horde of ONI soldiers can swarm them and arrest all of them, like Karl would allow himself to get arrested.

Karl had got them there within the hour and quickly got clearance and landed. Karl ran to the back, "Get your things we are moving quick, I'm probably wanted by humanity now, ONI tells lies they won't say what actually happened." Karl said as he helped carry some of Soya's things.

With Soya's directions they made it to the ship quickly, which looked like a luxury vessel, but was covenant, basically it had little to no defenses, but with Karl on board they would have a large defense. Karl quickly went inside the ship where a few more robed sangheili gave him nasty looks until Soya and Jede walked in behind him, he heard them greeting each other, but grew very impatient. He cleared his throat and Soya got the message, she guided him to her room and the door opened with Karl quickly putting her bags next to what looked like what would be her bed.

On his way out of the room she grabbed his shoulder. "Karl. Thank you." Karl didn't say anything he just nodded, "Did you really betray your race?" She asked him. "Soya, I'm not sure, ONI are loose cannons, they will say I did, but I was protecting the UNSC's ambitions. I will do that at whatever cost," Karl sighed, "Lets just get to Sangheilios, you can tell me all about it on the way there." Karl said turning around to face her, "And you're welcome." With that Karl left the room with a weird feeling in his stomach. Was it pride, hope, catch a feel? Karl didn't know, he just wanted it gone.

Karl walked to what looked like the 'hang out' area of the ship and took a sat down in what looked like a seat to accommodate the sangheili build. Karl took off his helmet just in time to see Jede walk over and take a seat across from him. "Hello sergeant, we are departing." "Good." Was all Karl said as he turned off his shields.

"My sister is very grateful for you protecting her." Jede said as Karl took a deep breath. Karl nodded. "It was no problem." Karl said.

"You know human, she has developed quite a tolerance to you, more than any other human she has met and talked to." "Oh really, that's good, glad I'm last on the list for her to assassinate." To Karl's surprise Jede got the joke and chuckled.

Karl just had a sideways smile on his face at making the Sangheili laugh, "Any more of a liking and you really might change the course of this alliance." Jede said with a chuckle. Karl lost his smile and got a serious face and tone on, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing human, you need rest, you have had a long day." And as fast as Jede said that sentence he was gone leaving Karl alone and confused.

He was left with a couple other Sangheili who were on the very other side of the room having a conversation and not even paying attention to Karl, they must have all been diplomats because they seemed very tolerant to humans surprisingly.

Karl looked out of the window he sat next to and saw as Earth got further and further away. He had no idea what Jede meant by that, and he didn't want to push on it more, 'I'll ask him tomorrow, I'm tired as shit' Karl thought as he tried to relax as much as possible. Karl put his hands behind his head and stretched his legs as far as they could go. He felt his eyes begin to way down and he was about to fall asleep until he saw movement near him. He quickly shot his eyes open and just saw it was the two previous sangheili leaving the room and going to what looked like their own quarters, leaving Karl all alone in the room.

The light in the room also turned off and all that was left for light was space and the purple glow of some parts of the walls, and keypads on doors. Karl looked around for a bit to get familiar with his surroundings.

Being bored he thought of what Jede had said again, after an hour or so of thinking Karl said out loud, "Ooooooooh..." 'What the fuck is that actually possible?' Karl thought as he had a very hard thinking face on. He just shrugged, knowing well enough that he didn't have those kinds of feelings for an alien, an alien that was part of a race that had commited a genocide against humanity.

Or did he?

 **I just want to make it clear now, I am so fucking sorry that I had waited so long to release this, I had some of the chapter written then some shit popped up last second, I'm actually writing this super late at night to get it out. I just want to let you know my bullshittery, and that I am sorry for it, well for my loyal fans here is another chapter done, expect a new one to come out soon aswell.**


	10. Chapter 8

**Hello, I actually am going to get a chapter out early, what a surprise, and Aggiefan to answer your question, yes it does and it sucks, but things are getting straightened out, thank god, anyway on with this story.**

Karl sat there for a while, just thinking, he had no idea what his mind was telling him, but his instincts have never failed him before and he hoped that they would not fail him now. Him and Soya have had some pleasant but short conversation in the past, but nothing serious. I mean sitting there for hours on end nothing is wrong with a little chat, right?

Karl leaned back in the chair and just looked out into the depths of space, they had gone into slipstream, so all he really saw was light going pas him at the speed of light. Funny when he thought about it. He had never really looked out into space on the past ships he has been on, he had been in the barracks at the center of the ship.

He sighed and put his hands behind his head, there was just no way he could fall asleep in this unfamiliar and relatively 'hostile' environment, he had done it in the past but never out in the open and everyone knew where he was. 'Ah fuck it I will stay up' Karl thought as he put his helmet back on and leaned back in the chair again, trying to look as still and relaxed as possible. 'This is going to be a long trip' he thought as he looked at the clock on his HUD. 'The time zones will definitely be totally fucked' Karl thought again.

After a while he saw a figure moving in the dark towards him, he didn't move at all, he acted as asleep as possible to see who it was approaching. Since his hands were behind his head he slowly pressed the button to turn on low- light vision. He saw it was a sangheili he did not recognize and decided to speak up.

"Whatcha doin..." Karl said in the most casual voice possible. It stopped and just looked at him, probably shocked. "I have come to speak with you." It said while sitting in the chair across from him.

"Oh really? What about?" Karl said as he put his arms in front of him now and crossed them. "About news from Earth... The organization called ONI have put a price on your head, a price that many rogues in my species would love to have."

Karl sighed, "Well they can try, but they will fail, and fuck ONI, they would love me dead after what I did, and how do you know about this." Karl said raising an eyebrow under his helmet. The sangheili let out a deep sigh, "Because they asked me to kill you." Karl didn't flinch, this one was unarmed, he could see clearly and had no armor on just robes.

"Ha, glad you didn't take up their offer, would have been a bad idea on your part." Karl said letting out a light chuckle. "I know you are no threat human, I do not see you as one, so and money is nothing to me, but if you are not careful you could start a full blown war."

Karl got up from his seat and his arms were still crossed as he looked away from the elite who he could tell was old and wise. "Well I will take your word for it and I will be cautious, I need all the allies I can, other than Soya and Jede of course. I am an exile now and your people won't be the only ones hunting me for sure, how much was it?" Karl asked as he turned around. "It was 1 million in your currency."

Karl scoffed, "I am not worth that much money, to be honest I am flattered. The Insurrection want me dead anyways." Karl said as he made his visor see through.

"Well human I am going to return to my quarters to rest." The elite got up and put a hand out to Karl, which Karl took. "My name is Tas 'Sadomee." "Karl Kuhn." Tas nodded and released Karl's hand. "I wish you the best of luck in survival human." He said as he left.

Karl sat back down and turned his low light vision off, he had to think of even more things now. 'My mind is packed with bullshit' Karl thought as he put his hand behind his back again.

Several days later...

They had finally made it to Sangheilios, it was a large and dry planet, Karl had seen nothing like it. For most of the trip Karl had stuck to his corner and only moved to eat and drink some of his rations. More or less he didn't speak a word to anyone after that night and had only followed Soya around when needed.

Karl had his AR on his back and pistol to his side while Following Soya off the ship, and to Karl's surprise he did not get many nasty looks from anyone at the dockyard, most of them being soldiers manning it had to likely act polite and not like fools, which Karl liked, a little discipline never hurt anyone.

Karl decided to ask a question that had been on his mind since they arrived, "So where we staying?" Karl said in his normal monotone voice. "At my family's keep at the edge of the city, I will make sure you are welcomed and not treated too horribly." She said while they walked from the dockyard into the city streets.

Karl kept his head on a swivel, Jede looked more relaxed and so did Soya, but Karl was in a very hostile environment and treated as such.

After a couple of hours of walking they had reached a large semi- fortified structure that looked to Karl as, well, a castle. Except it was a completely different architecture than anything he had ever seen. It looked so well... Alien.

When they reached the gates he found two very warrior like elites holding long spears guarding it. Both of them when they walked closer gave a respectful bow and mumbled something in their own language which Karl thought was a respectful gesture. But when they saw Karl they immediately pointed spears at him, in response Jede walked in front of him and said something in their own language. He turned around to Karl and looked him in the eyes, even behind his visor.

"You must see the Keep master at once if you are to be kept here. I will escort you there but once there you must use your own tongue to talk to him, he also knows english from years of fighting the war, but after it ended he decided to return home. Also he is my father so don't make him angry, I know from personal experience." Jede said as he leaned in closer to Karl.

Karl let out a simple, "Understood." And with that they were let into the massive compound and Soya went in a different direction followed by what looked like younger girls, maybe sisters, handmaidens? Karl just shrugged and kept Following Jede and saw people from what it looked like going on with daily things doing whatever Sangheili do, Karl had no idea.

They reached a massive building in the center and after talking to some guards Jede let Karl inside but then waved him off and Karl was all alone. He looked around and saw massive pillars along the outside- center of the room. And of course at the end was a thrown like thing with a large sangheili sitting in it with what looked like maybe his wife next to him.

"Come forward human, I was told of your arrival." It said with a booming voice, almost as scary if not more than the zealot Karl had fought back on Earth during New Mombasa. Karl walked forward and saw at closer inspection he was missing the lower left mandible and curiosity got ahead of his manners. "How did that happen?" Karl asked the old elite. He seemed to not even be offended by it, "I had a fight, with a demon during the war." It said in a matter of fact tone.

Karl just nodded and walked forward, he took off his helmet and put it under his arm still looking around and noticing there were guards everywhere. "Are you nervous human?" He said and scooted forward in his chair a little. Karl replied flatly, "Not as much nervous as I am prepared. It's instinct as a warrior in your past I am guessing you know the feeling."

"Indeed human, so you are a warrior, a warrior in fact assigned by your race to defend my daughter, are you not?" Karl turned towards him again, "Yes sir, and now an exile until I can get my situation, well... Situated."

The elite rubbed his chin, "I have taken exiles, but none of your scale human. What happened that caused this?"

Karl explained everything that happened during his encounter with ONI. The old elite scratched his head, "They sound like blasted fools, you obviously were doing your job." "Well they are assholes, they will do anything to benefit them only, not the human race or UNSC." Karl said as he walked up to the throne on request of the old keep lord's wife.

"I human am Jaka 'Nulcam." He held out his hand to Karl, which Karl took and shook. "Karl Kuhn." He said in response.

"You seem fit to stay here, you are not a fool or anyone meaning to harm us, only protecting the UNSC's ambitions, which I am for the alliance, after the Arbiter showed us the lies of the prophets I took up arms with him to save our own race. But many oppose sadly, you will just have to be careful." He looked at Karl one last time, "Continue serving your species, continue protecting my daughter." He said in a matter of fact tone. Karl nodded and left the keep.

When he got outside he saw Soya approaching. "Come with me Karl I will show you your quarters and also around the keep so you do not get lost." Karl nodded and followed behind her. He followed her to a large part of the keep which was also heavily guarded, which must have been someplace important. "This is where the family sleeps, but you will stay here so you can guard me more efficiently." Karl just nodded. They walked to the end of the large hall and she pointed to a door near the end, "This is my own room, yours is two doors down. Here is the key Karl." She said as he gave him the key, Karl nodded, "Thank you Soya, and your family for letting me stay." Karl said as he walked down to his own room.

When he reached it and opened it inside was a large open space which looked like a kitchen and/ or dining room. On the other side was a door which led to a bathroom from the looks of it and it looked very similar to a human bathroom which he bet he could figure out quickly. Leaving that room he found a room that was most likely the bedroom because it had a large bed and some shelves near it. 'That's where i'll put my ammo' Karl thought as he walked over with his bag of things, mainly extra clothes and ammo. He neatly stacked all of his ammunition on it and sorted it out by type and which gun it went to, '50 AR mags, 12 .50 Magnum mags, 150 shotgun shells...' he was noting as he placed them. He then walked over to what looked like another shelf and put his light body armor and other tactical gear on it such as holsters, pads, and extra armor that he tucked into his regular UNSc uniform and not his ODST armor.

Karl yawned as he took his armor off and then his under suit. He then walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After that he put on his long sleeve black shirt and black tactical pants. After he put those on he put on his balaclava which only exposed his eyes, after that he put on his knee and elbow pads which briefly after put on his tactical vest. He walked over to his bag and took out his shades and put them on. Karl walked over to the ammo cache and stuck 5 magnum magazines into his vest, after that he put his knife holster around his calf and stuck his knife into it. After that he went over and put on his pistol holster which already had his pistol in it. He was now fully ready to walk around and explore the keep a little more and get to know it, and if he can the people. 'Mine as well make more friends than enemies' Karl thought as he stepped out of the room and went to go explore the keep.


	11. Chapter 9

Karl was walking around a courtyard area of the keep which he had been told by Soya where formal events were held outdoors and not inside the great hall. Karl was intrigued by the large amount of exotic plants that were here it was almost as it was a giant garden. Then he spotted a large field, he walked to it and just noticed how sunny Sangheilios was. 'Glad I won't get 'sun' burnt' he thought as he walked into the open field and just looked around himself. He was amazed at the sight, from here he could see just how large the keep was and also how large this so called courtyard was, considering he was the only one around, he decided to do some exercises, which he had not done in a long time and he needed to stay in shape to kick ass.

Karl took off his sunglasses and balaclava. After that he took off his vest and thick shirt as well as his pistol holster, but kept his knife. He then laid down and bent his knees up and started doing sit- ups. 'One, two, three...' he was counting to himself. After about 100 he stopped and put his legs down and flipped to his stomach, getting in push up position. He the lifted one arm off the ground and put it behind his back and started to do one armed push ups. After about 30 on each side he took a drink from his canteen. "Ah, fuck yes that is good." Karl said out loud. 'Finally have someplace to be in peace' Karl thought as he looked around.

He was now just sitting under a tree in the shade while taking his brief rest. He saw a guard patrolling around but he had no need to fear the guard because he was not doing anything wrong. He got up and put his shirt on and after that his vest, then quickly strapped his pistol holster back on and put his balaclava and shades on. Karl also rolled up his sleeves because it was very hot.

Karl walked out of the large gardens and to the 'training area' where all the young and old alike would go to train or duel. He didn't really see anyone around except one lone sangheili just hitting a wooden target. Karl sat down in a small seating area and just took a look around seeing everything there was. He was watching the sangheili now and saw that it was a very young one, maybe a preteen. He just watched it fight the fake enemy.

Soon the sangheili stopped and looked at Karl who was just sitting there staring nonchalantly. Karl just waved in a friendly manner, "What, nervous a human is here?" He asked as kindly as possible. Karl did not get a response he just kept staring. So Karl got up and walked towards him.

"Look I mean you no harm, actually I was just watching you fight. Well. More or less." Karl said as he approached the young boy. He pointed at the sword in the boy's hand and the boy gave him the sword. "You have gotta go for more decisive blows kid, stop targeting legs and arms, that won't kill your enemy." Karl said as he did some quick movements while pretending to dodge some strikes. "See simple, you try now." Karl gave the sword back and watched as the kid did them, instructing corrections if he did the movement wrong.

After the boy did it correctly finally he turned to Karl, "Human, this seems better than what my master shows me, but I cannot deny his teachings and take up your unless you fight him for the position." Karl just shrugged, "Well then don't tell him I helped you out a little," Karl then crouched to eye level with the boy, "But on your next class I bet you will kick some ass." Karl sat up and took a deep breath.

"Oh, well thank you human, I hope I will win some fights now." The boy then left the large training area through a set of doors in the side.

"You are good with children." The voice made Karl jump but he knew who it was, "It is not much Soya but it works. I have some experience." Karl said as he turned around and Soya was walking towards him. "Oh, do you have children?" She said as she took a seat in the observation area. "No, but I did a lot of care taking when I was younger, and sometimes I helped out refugees of the war." Karl said as he also sat down.

"Were there many orphans, during the war?" Soya asked. "Oh yeah, hell I would have been one if I didn't protect Earth when the covenant invaded. And I bet the whole human race would have been orphans, that is our home planet after all." Karl said and sighed.

"Are you stressed Karl?" Soya asked. "No, just having memories, memories I don't want. If you dwell on them you can get very mentally ill." Karl said as he remembered how he had blown up Rogers's body to kill a squad of enemies.

"I know what you mean human, my brother was killed on that blind crusade of a war." Soya said. "It was indeed crusade, but you guys didn't expect much resistance did you?" Karl said with a smug look on his face. "I was not for the war in the slightest, however I was very young then and saw any war as a honorable thing to fight in but us females don't really have any choice in our lives." Karl's eyebrow went up. "And how's that?". Soya sighed, "We don't really have much choice to do what we please, but my father is a very nice keep lord to say the least, he allowed me to pursue anything I wanted, and I chose diplomacy." Soya said.

Karl nodded. "Well being a soldier was a path I was going to pursue whether there was a war or not." Karl said as he scratched his nose. "It is all I really know, my dad was a soldier, grandfather, my mom even." Karl said. "I see, I feel sad for you that your race has exiled you." Soya said with actual care in her voice that is usually not there. "Don't feel bad Soya, I will get everything sorted out. I am going to make sure those responsible in ONI are put to justice." Then he mumbled under his breath, "Fucking assholes."

Then when Karl looked up he saw someone approaching and it threw him off guard as it was a fully armored elite major with all of his weapons and everything. "Soya 'Nadum, may I speak privately with you." It said, and then it looked directly at Karl. "Not unless I am there buddy." Karl said as he stood up and walked towards the elite which stood a whole foot taller than Karl. "And why is that human? Is she your mate?" It let out a chuckle, "No." Karl said with an look of anger under his mask, "I just am her bodyguard and I gotta make sure someone as shady as you doesn't try any funny business, eh?" Karl said trying to look as threatening as possible without his armor.

"Vaka, calm down, let the human come with us, but out of ears reach, but in view." Soya spoke up and walked over to the two. "Gah, fine over here." 'Vaka' said and Soya and him went over about 10 meters and spoke in their own language. In english Karl would hear them anyways. Karl just leaned on a wall and was observing both of their faces, though not human he had been around them enough to know the basic emotions on their faces.

Everything was going smoothly until he grabbed her throat, immediately Karl sprinted over and tackled him to the ground, "Mother fucker!" Karl yelled at him as he pinned the elite to the ground with his knee on his throat. "Move at all and I smash your wind pipe." Karl said as he put pressure to make his point. Vaka nodded and looked around frantically. Karl turned his head for a moment and saw Soya rubbing her throat and walking over to Karl. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Let him go." Was all she said. Karl nodded and got up and even offered the elite a hand. He just scoffed and got up himself.

"The fuck was that for man?" Karl asked Vaka who was rubbing his own throat now. "She didn't want to bang?!" Karl asked in an angry tone as he got up in the elites face as much as he could. Vaka did not get the slang but Soya being around humans a lot got the term and blushed unknowing to Karl. "Back off human before I crush you!" Vaka said as spit flew from his mouth. "Alright lets see if you can." Was all Karl said and he took a few steps back. "Karl this is unnecessary." Soya said as she grabbed his shoulder. "Oh yes it is but I gotta protect your dignity too, fucking asshole." Karl said. Looking at Vaka.

"What did you do to piss him off anyways aren't you diplomatic?" Karl asked. "I did not want his hand." Was all she said and that was enough for Karl to understand.

Karl patted his hands against his side. "Alright, let's fight asshole, if you win you get Soya's hand and if I win you don't. Fair enough?" Karl asked. "Indeed human it is fair enough." Vaka said and they started circling each other. Karl did discrete stretches, this was obviously not a fair fight, Vaka had armor, but Karl knew the weak points.

A crowd started to gather and Soya was off hiding in the shadows somewhere. "Winner gets to behead the other human." Vaka said before he charged at Karl. Karl simply side stepped and put his leg out tripping the large elite. Karl let out a small chuckle as Vaka got up and took a swing at him which Karl ducked under and punched Vaka in a joint that was exposed, Vaka let out a growl and reached for his energy sword, Karl went wide eyed when Vaka quickly swung it at Karl's legs, Karl reacted quickly and jumped over the swing and right onto Vaka's chest making both of them fall to the dirt.

Karl punched Vaka in the wrist which caused him to drop the sword, Karl got his knife out but before he could stab Vaka in the shoulder Vaka grabbed Karl's arm and obviously had superior strength to Karl. What Karl didn't expect was a headbutt, which caused him to fall off Vaka's chest and into the dirt. Karl didn't hesitate to get up but when he did Vaka was already up and then punched Karl in the face right on the nose, breaking his nose and his sunglasses. "Those were my good ones prick..." Karl said as he got his knife up and grabbed the blade. "What are you going to do hit me with it?" Vaka taunted, Karl just shrugged and then threw the blade right into Vaka's weak shoulder point. Vaka let out a cry of pain but then shook it off. Vaka grabbed his energy sword with his one good arm and charged Karl, Karl quickly stepped back from a stab which had burned his vest, but he was fine.

Vaka went in for another stab but Karl dodged it again, doing this a couple more times Karl was letting Vaka tire himself out, but it seemed he had endless energy and Karl's strategy was not working. Karl missed the dodge barely and was hit by a blunt part of the handle of the weapon, knocking him off his feet from the sheer force and onto the dirt. On his back right when he was about to get up a large foot smashed him to the ground again. Now laying with Vaka above him. "Looks like I have won human, you die now." Just as his arm was coming up with the sword to kill Karl Soya came out from nowhere. "Stop Vaka, that is enough, you can't kill him!" Soya said panicking. "Why not? He challenged me!" Vaka said. "B- Because I love him!" Soya shouted. Vaka looked like he just got his dick chopped off while Karl had no reaction at all.

'Well fuck' Karl said to himself. While Vaka was distracted Karl hit him in the knee and Vaka fell off him in pain. Karl quickly took the knife out of his shoulder and stabbed his other arm, after he dropped the energy sword Karl knocked Vaka to the ground with a quick kick to the mandibles and then put a knee on his chest and held the knife to Vaka's throat. He looked to Soya, "Thanks for the distraction, looks like it worked." Karl said with a smile on his face. "Who said it was a distraction." Soya said seeming very upset. Karl stiffened, he wasn't expecting that. He then looked down at Vaka who was panting heavily and oozing blood from the knife wounds and one of his mandibles being broken.

"I'll let you live asshole, get patched up." Karl said as he got off Vaka and helped the large sangheili up. Vaka quickly walked away and left his energy sword on the ground so Karl picked it up and turned it off, putting it on his belt. 'A nice souvenir' Karl thought to himself. He then turned to Soya who was now sitting in a corner. So he walked over.

"You know that takes guts to say something like that, but you helped when win the fight I was about to maybe 'lose'." Karl said as he sat next to her. "Hope this doesn't happen often this is my first day here." Karl said as he looked over to Soya. "Well I guess I am brave for admitting it, you are much better than any other male I have met, even though you are a different species." Soya said.

Karl sighed, "Well I don't know if I feel the same way Soya, but I can say you are a pretty good friend, hell maybe in time I will feel something." Karl admitted, "In time Soya, but I don't want things to go too fast, hell I barely have known you for a couple months." Karl said. "Well you have been so good to me since we met, I'm sorry that my feelings have gone so far so fast, no one has protected me this much before, not even my personal guards or father." Soya said. Karl patted her on the back and sat up stretching a little. He then felt the amount of blood coming from his lip and nose. "Well you can help me pop my nose back into place, that fight was kinda for you." Karl said and chuckled. "No thank you Karl, blood makes me sick, seeing that fight made me sick." Soya said getting up as well. Karl nodded, "I'll escort you back to your room and you can rest, okay?" Karl said with genuine concern in his voice. "That would be very nice, thank you." Soya said.

Karl walked Soya back to her room and said good bye at the door. He went to his own quarters and immediately took off his gear and balaclava which was now coated in blood on the inside and could be seen soaking through on the outside of it. He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at his crooked nose which he quickly popped back into place with a lot of pain and a 'snap' and 'pop' noise. Karl put some rags in his nose to clean the rest of the blood and walked over to the bed and realized actually how tired he was from the days activities.

After taking the rags out and putting them on the side table he sat on the bed and took his boots and knee pads off, as well as his socks and think over shirt. Karl changed into more comfortable sleep wear which consisted of some athletic shorts and a thin UNSC shirt.

Karl laid down in his bed and thought of the day's events.

Soya admitting her love to him and the fight with Vaka to defend her from a forceful marriage. Did he feel the same? Is that why he defended her? He didn't know he would think about the reasons later, right now he needed rest.

But he couldn't sleep, just like he could barely get any sleep on the ship. He quickly got up and made sure the door was locked, which it was. Then he thought of his home life before the war, how he had struggled and school and was now the highest NCO rank you could get in the UNSC Marines. It took Karl 10 years of dedicated service to get where he was, right when he reached the age of 18 he joined the UNSC to fight the covenant. Went into the Marines and after proving himself in training went on to join the ODST. Which happened to be the best thing that had happened to him, the training was brutal but he did it and had reached the rank of Corporal and was an assistant squad leader in his squad which is where he met Brandy and Rogers two of his best friends and Brandy becoming his girlfriend. He did not feel any feelings for her anymore after he had left for Sangheilios now that he thought about it he didn't even think of her at all. Like he had after she 'died'. 'Maybe I didn't have any real feelings for her afterall' Karl thought as he laid down in the bed again.

Finally feeling tired after so much thinking, he laid down and finally closed his eyes now that he got everything off his mind. Soon Karl fell asleep and would not wake up until the very next morning.

 **Another chapter out, holy shit I am on a role, just trying to make up for all my lost time, I had most of these already planned out, they just needed to be written, which they are being, I am planning on this story to be at least 15-20 chapter long, much longer than the first indeed. There is just so much plot development going on I can't stop :P. To be completely honest I thank all my followers and maybe growing fanbase, idk for posting reviews and be obliged to tell me of any spelling errors and/ or grammar issues and I will fix them as soon as I can. Also don't hesitate to give a review or constructive criticism, but don't just say 'This story is fucking gay' or anything I mean constructive, don't just be an asshole.**

 **Thank you all,**

 **Stevie**


	12. Chapter 10

Karl woke up to a loud banging at his door, even for a second he forgot where he was and then quickly remembered. He lazily got up and walked towards the door sighing heavily as he opened it. He saw a large guard stare at him for a second and then say, "The lord requests your presence." As fast as he said it the guard turned and left. Karl yawned for a few seconds and then turned and closed he door with his leg.

He walked over to his armor and quickly put it on after putting on his helmet and hear the 'hiss' sound he knew it was on fully. He put his magnum in its holster as well as his knife and then left the room, 'didn't even get a drink of water' Karl thought to himself as he was walking down the hallway towards the great hall.

It didn't take him long since he memorized these halls about 50 times in his head when Soya showed him around.

When he entered he was met with about 5 plasma rifles pointed at him. Karl just looked around confused under his helmet and then they quickly holstered their weapons and went back to patrolling the room. Karl just shook his head and casually strolled towards Jaka who was talking with one of the guards who was wearing cold armor instead of the silver looking armor, 'probably the captain of the guards' Karl thought. They both looked at Karl when he reached the edge of the stairs the gold armor wearer turned and walked away and Karl watched him closely as he left.

"Human, I heard there was a fight yesterday." Jaka said roughly, "Why must there be such things in my keep?" Karl simply translated it to 'why was there a fight'. Karl sighed and took a step forward, "There was someone named Vaka and he wanted Soya's hand, when she declined he choked her, I tackled him. Then further challenged him to a proper fight which I won so he left her alone. Or he better." Karl said.

Jaka let out a audible sigh, "Human in our culture to fight another male over such a thing is because you want to also court that female." Karl let out his own audible sigh, "This was over a different reason, he tried to harm her and I also want to defend her interests not just her physical form. I am not interested in courting her Jaka." Karl said as he looked around nervously.

Jaka squinted at Karl and then he got up from his chair and walked towards Karl, Karl just stood there, but soon Jaka was next to Karl. "Follow me Karl, we will speak in private." Jaka said as he went to leave the court and motioned for his guards to stay in place. Karl followed close behind and sighed, 'for fuck's sake this will be an enjoyable conversation' he sarcastically said to himself.

Soon they were at the gardens that Karl went to yesterday. Jaka suddenly stopped near a tree and turned to face Karl. "I also heard there was not just a fight, what happened?" Karl just shrugged at this, "It was only the fight Jaka, but it is what ended the fight." Karl said. "Well tell me you fool." Jaka said in a joking voice. Karl just said casually, despite his heart racing, "Well apparently Soya admitted her love to me when Vaka was about to kill me, which he was so stunned I got the upper hand again. To be honest I asked her right after if it was true and she said it was, so then I figured it was not just a distraction to help me win."

He saw Jaka rubbing his chin. "How? How is such a thing possible, I knew there was something off about that girl. She never did want to court anyone, how long have you been in her life my boy?" Jaka said jokingly at the end. Karl sighed, "I don't really have any feelings that go past a partnership and friendship however. So don't worry about anything." Karl said as he knew what he was saying is true. Jaka just let out a growl, "I better not have to human." Jaka let out a laugh as well as Karl.

"Well human thank you for defending my daughter from that fool." Jaka said finally as he put a hand on Karl's shoulder. "No problem Jaka, just doing my job." Karl replied in a serious tone. Jaka then just turned and walked away, Karl just sat there for a bit and looked around.

He then felt a large impact on his back and went flying forward to the ground. "Ah, fuck!" Karl said out loud as he saw 4 black armored Sangheili come towards him. He then felt the burn on his back and known he had been hit by a plasma round, and he had forgotten to turn on his shields, 'Well it is too late for that now' Karl though to himself as he got up to his feet as quickly as he was knocked down. "This isn't a very fair fight." Karl taunted and then he saw they all drew energy swords and turned them on. '4 swords 1 guy, what a bunch of pussies' Karl though to himself as he was going to evaluate what he was going to do. "Oh wait a moment" Karl said to himself as he drew his own energy sword he took from Vaka yesterday. 'Now it's fair' Karl thought.

For a second time paused as Karl thought this could be his death, in this battle against 4 angry looking elites that were most likely well trained spec ops.

Karl side stepped the first sangheili who charged at him and rolled out of the way of the other and slashed it's ankle. The third one tackled Karl as soon as he got up from the roll. It pinned Karl to the ground but not his arms and Karl stabbed the sword into the elite's chest. It's eyes widened a moment and then fell shut, Karl turned his head as he saw another one coming in towards him. Karl heaved the body towards the 4th one's strike and heard it cut the corpse on top of him. Karl quickly got out fro under it and stood up again. He quickly looked around and saw all 3 of them were regrouped again.

Karl was the one to go on the offensive this time as he charged the group and tackled the one on the far right side. It quickly stumbled as Karl impacted him, but did not fall, but then Karl stabbed his sword into it's stomach and quickly pulled out to block another one's attack. He then felt a hot burning come from his stomach and looked down to see the one he had stabbed stabbed him. Karl could not quit now, he wasn't protecting Soya he was protecting himself now. Karl kicked that one with a rear kick and the sword went out of his stomach, he could feel the air seeping into his wounds and hoped the hot sword had cauterized it. Karl turned his attention to the two charging him at once and ducked under both their attacks, Karl used this to his advantage and sliced one of their arms off. It screamed in pain and fell to the ground now holding it's large gaping wound. Karl would do the same but he was in the fight of his life right now.

The last elite tackled Karl from behind and he fell to the ground. Karl felt more scorching heat hit his right shoulder, he guessed the elite had forgotten where a human heart was. Karl would of laughed but he had no strength to. He thought of everyone who was killed by elites and soon he head butted the elite sitting on top of him and he quickly turned around and kick the elite in the chest as it was recovering from the mandible shattering headbutt. Karl pulled out his magnum and quickly shot it in the head, it was a surprisingly loud gunshot because it was so quiet in the gardens. Karl had no strength to get up.

Karl just lay there on the ground bleeding heavily from what it felt like. 'I am not going to fucking die on this planet' Karl though to himself as he struggled to stand but eventually did. He then just noticed he helmet was cracked near the nose, which was likely from the impact when he hit the ground. Karl limped his way while holding his stomach about 5 feet and then fell again. He could hear footsteps but between his heavy breathing and hisses of pain he could not distinguish them.

"Oh, no..." Was all he heard in the most distressed voice he could possibly think of. "Jede, go get the guard now!" He heard a voice again. He then distinguished it as Soya's. Karl felt himself being rolled over. Karl couldn't really do anything except be rolled over. He then saw Soya over him putting pressure on his wounds. "What happened?" She said quickly and worriedly. Karl just looked to the right a bit and pointed all he could with his right arm. He saw her look up for a bit and squint then she must have seen the bodies because she lost all color in her face, Karl could tell they had very similar emotions to humans. 'Maybe they are more human than I am' Karl thought with an internal chuckle.

Karl was just trying to stay awake as long as possible using all of his training and experience as a soldier to keep himself awake and aware. He then felt something grab his hand, he had really no choice but to accept the comforting gesture. It actually was a nice feeling and he used whatever she felt for him to stay alive, as an inspiration, if she lost Karl she might never have a life for a long time. In a way Karl was still protecting her.

She then let go of Karl's hand and Karl could hear why as he heard what sounded like 100 of them, but he heard Jede shouting commands in their language and he was quickly lifted from the ground as he felt about 4 different people pick him up. That was when Karl could not open his eyes anymore and he quickly shut them as he felt the beam of pain from head to toe shoot through his body and then everything went black as he finally lost consciousness.

Two days later...

Karl opened his eyes slowly and noticed there wasn't really any pain, but when he tried to move a little it hit him like a freight train and he instantly just stayed still. He looked at his wounds, which were now bandaged. He still felt very weak and guessed he had not been knocked out for very long. Karl let out a slow breath and continued to do that until someone walked into the room. Almost on instinct he went for a weapon but he didn't move, he in no position to move.

He saw it was Soya who walked into the room and when she saw he was awake she rushed over to him as fast as possible. "By the gods you are alive." She said happily and she sat down next to Karl. Karl just squinted and noticed he was shirtless but still had his armored pants on. He really didn't care though. Karl looked around for a bit before he spotted all of his gear. "Soya can you grab that pouch on the left side of my belt." Karl said as he pointed to his gear. She nodded and got up and walked over to his gear. She got the pouch off the belt and handed it to Karl. "Thank you." He said as he opened it and took out a stick of morphine quickly stabbing it into his leg.

Karl let out a long drawn out sigh as he felt the pain washing away and he felt extremely relieved. He then put the used shot on a small desk next to him and noticed he was in his room. "So, what happened after I went out?" Karl asked. "After you fell unconscious we brought you here and bandaged you with what we and yourself had on you." Soya said. "Ever find out who those assholes were?" Karl asked another question. Soya let out a sigh and nodded, "They were a group called the black Hand, a notorious assassin group. You are lucky to be alive." Soya said. Karl nodded, "Looks like word got out here that I am here, or they new I was coming, I have only been here a few days." Karl said as he let out another drawn out breath.

"Oh and thanks for trying to help me, when I was just sitting there on the ground." Karl said with an actually not- himself- caring tone. He thought he saw Soya blushing but ignored it. "It was nothing Karl, after all the times you helped me I thought I could help you for once." Soya said.

Karl looked over to Soya and he took her hand, she was very surprised by this, but Karl looked he straight in the eyes. "This made me feel better too, been a while since I have held a hand." Karl said as he kept holding her hand. Soya sat down next to him again and they just sat there, her hand in his. It was then that Karl noticed her face more, how it looked much smoother than most other sangheili and sharper, not as rounded. He also noticed her eyes how they were a bright orange and full of care and compassion.

Karl then did something he though he would never do, he put a hand on the side of her face, she looked very surprised by this and could tell she was maybe excited or anticipating. Karl wouldn't keep her waiting and he put his hand behind her neck and pushed her in closer. "Put your mandibles together." Karl said softly, she did so and Karl kissed her softly at the tips of all 4 of them. Karl could say he felt something then. He for sure did, a moment he saw an alien as beautiful and ended up kissing her.

Karl pulled away after a few seconds and he saw Soya was heavily blushing and excited. "See told you I would eventually fall for you." Karl said as he chuckled a bit.

Karl then let go of her hand also and laid back down, "I think I better get some rest for a couple more hours, then I will get some food." Karl said as he closed his eyes again. "You can stay here if you want, I won't mind." Karl said before finally falling asleep.

Karl woke up and saw Soya was gone. He just sighed and got up very slowly. It was the he realized probably how much blood he lost and how badly damaged his insides were. But there were no human doctors here to help him he would have to get through it himself like he had many times. He had never really needed a doctor he had no time to be treated by one after battle, because most of the time he was either not wounded or barely wounded.

He got up and put his tactical shirt on and after that he put on his gloves. He also put on his tactical vest and balaclava, but not his shades because they were broken during his fight with Vaka. Karl slowly went to the bathroom and did his business, he was asleep for several days and he really had to go. He walked over to his arsenal and got an MRE from his bag and poured some water in it and heated it up. He ate the MRE and quickly downed what felt like a gallon of water. He needed to get his blood count back up and his strength and not eating was doing nothing good for him.

Karl got up and gripped his upper stomach tightly, 'I'm glad he missed my spine' Karl thought as he continued walking towards the door. He opened it to see Jede standing on the other side talking to Soya. Jede turned and faced Karl, "Just the man I was looking for" Jede said. Karl just shrugged, "What do you need?" Karl asked. "I was just coming to check up on your condition, you are walking which is progress." Jede said as he softly patted Karl on the shoulder. Karl didn't flinch even though it hurt a little, it was nothing worth whining over.

Karl turned his attention to Soya as Jede walked away. "A little help? I don't think I will be able to walk to the other side without falling." Karl said softly. "Of course." Soya said as Karl put his arm over he shoulder and she helped him walk to the gardens where extra guards were posted. Karl could still see some blood stains from yesterday's fight. "Oh and Karl." Soya said, Karl looked over "Hm?" He made that sound indicated 'what'. "One of them lived, and is being interrogated currently, so far he has said nothing to my father's soldiers." Soya said as she set Karl down next to a tree. Karl sat slowly and leg his legs sit far out. "I think I might pay him a visit considering he did try to kill me." Karl said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back.

Soya sat next to him and Karl put an arm around her. She leaned in close to him and put her head on his shoulder. They just sat there a while, in each other's company.

 **Chapter ten. That is a milestone for me, this story has developed a lot as you can see, I am sure you can tell where this story is going, but I will eventually get to the 'Alliance' part soon(not a sex joke at all). Anyways thank you all for reading and posting reviews it helps a lot. Make sure to point out any of my errors or spelling issues and they will be fixed. I do re read my chapters but I type and read fast so I might skip over shit.**

 **Love,**

 **Stevie**


	13. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone, Stevie here I just wanted to make a small author' note here answering a review by Aggiefan. There will be more Brandy especially in future chapters but right now Karl is nowhere near Brandy so he can't really get in contact with her, and mayyyybeee . :P\**

Karl sat there for a while before Soya turned to him, "Karl I must go I have duties I must tend to." Soya said and Karl just got up and helped her up as well. They shared a short hug before she walked away out of the gardens. Karl just sighed and decided to take a walk around the gardens and see all the exotic plants it held. He saw many ones with strange shapes and colors. He had no idea what to call any of them except a bright red and orange one which he named a 'Dragon Flower'.

He continued to explore with his hands close to the weapons he had with him, he didn't want a repeat of two days ago. Karl sighed as he walked towards the exit of the keep, he wanted to actually explore anywhere else and see what this planet had in terms of pretty much anything. But he would make sure to keep discreet and not stand out as much as possible.

He would have thought that word had gone around that a human was here from the, at least what he thought, merchants that came and left the keep with goods. He had tried some sangheili food while he was here and it was not that bad, at least the meat was he didn't enjoy the stuff he couldn't identify. He was not very hungry now since he usually only ate once a day but usually a big meal.

He left the keep and was walking down a dirt road towards what he assumed was a town or city. He was not wearing his armor which he just realized and he couldn't walk around in the open as much as he would like to. Karl made it to the outskirts and noticed many Sangheili out working and he even spotted a couple of kids running around. He glared at any Sangheili that looked his way for too long and they would usually look away and go among their business.

Karl was enjoying this small walk until he spotted someone following him, another human, that appeared to be female and wearing all black armor similar to an ODSTs and she stood out very badly. Karl let out a small chuckle and turned around. "Could you be more discrete please? I am trying to enjoy a walk." Karl said as he made sure to keep a hand very close to his magnum. She walked close enough to hit him with a punch, and grabbed his arm. Karl didn't flinch, "Karl Kuhn you are under arrest you are coming with me!" She shouted at him and several others dressed similar to her came out of the shadows and all had Assault Rifles pointed at him. 'Oh it can't be this bitch again' Karl thought.

Karl quickly grabbed his magnum and spun behind her quickly putting an arm around her throat and holding her tightly to himself. She didn't expect it and neither did any of the possibly ONI agents. He held the magnum to her head, "If anyone even moves a finger or a muscle twitches this 50 caliber round is going right through this helmet and into her head and out the other side." Karl said seriously as he clicked off the safety on his magnum and put pressure on the trigger, but not enough.

One of the agents spoke up, "Kuhn if you pull that trigger that is just another murder added to your record." The agent said in a very serious voice. "What the fuck did I just say!" Karl said, "I guess she didn't tell you new guys on her team why exactly I was about to be detained?" Karl said, none of them moved so he spoke on, "Well she wanted to take me and my mission to god knows where to probably start another war, I wouldn't know the details but that's how ONI works." Karl said.

He then felt a barrel touch the back of his head, "Drop the gun Kuhn." He heard a rough voice say, he knew who it was immediately. "Captain Shale?" Karl said as he didn't even turn his head. "Yes sir." Karl said as he let go of the agent and threw the gun to the ground. He turned around and saw the man he recognized wearing ODST body armor but proper armor with all the markings. Karl instantly shot up a salute, them not being in a combat zone and all. "At ease Sergeant Major." Shale said and he nodded to the agent behind him.

Karl felt his arms being pulled behind him and into zip ties, but Karl didn't resist. "Looks like we know your weakness Kuhn." The agent said behind him. Karl fumed, his weakness was loyalty to the UNSC. "Don't worry Kuhn you are going into UNSC custody not ONI. Orders from Hood himself." Shale said as he took off his helmet, "Man it is hot as hell here." Karl looked at the man in front of him, "Sir, I was performing my duty to the UNSC when I did what I did, I know first hand the shit they pull." Karl said in almost a whisper to Shale. Shale got closer, "I know kid, that is why ONI isn't taking you and the UNSC is." Shale said quietly to Karl. Karl nodded and felt himself being pulled. He was poked in the back several times and he got the clue and started walking forward. He was quickly surrounded by the ONI agents and Shale.

After a few minutes of walking Karl had been rubbing his zipties off his hands slowly but surely as he used his own sweat to finally get them off but pretended to still have them on.

After a few more blocks of walking he reached for his knife which they lacked to grab, but before he could he felt a hand clench his, "No you don't" He heard an agent say. "Captain the SOB went for his kn-" He was cut off when Karl slammed his fist into the Agents throat and then stabbed his shoulder, with his other arm he grabbed his AR and then pulled out the knife, flinging the agent into another one, they both tumbled to the ground and Karl quickly unloaded into two more of them, making sure to not shoot lethally, he shot to wound. After shooting both agents in the arms and legs several times he aimed the gun at Shale, but Shale was faster and shot Karl in the stomach with his own magnum. Karl felt the impact but his advanced vest caught the bullet.

Karl fell to the ground though and with a large loss of air. He was breathing heavily when Shale put a foot onto Karl's chest to hold him down. Karl simply got his knife again and stabbed it into Shale's leg making him stumble back and Karl was able to regain his footing. "Kuhn you idiot! I can't believe you think humanity can actually have peace with these beasts." Shale said as he got out his own combat knife and had all of his focus on Karl. "You have seen what they have done first hand, yet you still think they are able to repay what they have done." Shale said.

Karl just rolled his eyes, "Sir I don't think you understand that another war would just mean more human lives lost, and they were lied to, used as pawns." Karl said in retaliation. "Yes, but we have the advantage now, they don't have their production capabilities anymore, once we destroy their navy they can't rebuild it, once we capture their weapons they can't remake them." Shale said with venom on his tongue. Karl just growled and stared harshly at his once in the past commander. Karl didn't want to waste anymore time so he quickly grabbed the knife by the blade and threw it with every bit of force he could muster in his body. Throwing it has hard and far as he would a grenade to hit an enemy position.

Karl watched in disbelief as his knife shattered Shale's bullet proof glass visor and went straight into the flesh behind it. Karl let out a small cheer and ran to his body, kneeling down next to it and he took Shale's dog tags. After that he pulled the knife out of Shale's head and flicked off the blood and brains from his knife. He went over to the injured ONI agents and dragged them all to the side of a building.

"If any of you try to come for me again, unless you can get Hood himself to come here so I can talk to him personally I will not hesitate to kill every one of you assholes. Got me?" Karl said angrily as he pointed at all of them. One of them responded weakly, "Yeah we got it..." He said. Karl nodded and began to walk away, "Call your buddies to come pick you up, i'll be long gone by the time they get here." Karl said and as soon as he turned the corner he sprinted off back towards the keep.

He just killed a UNSC officer, but an obviously corrupt one, poisoned by ONI's propaganda and lies.

 **A short chapter but one that I hope you guys enjoyed, if you couldn't tell already Karl hates ONI and ONI hates Karl, so they are fighting a very discrete war. The reason this chapter is so short is because soon I will began a work on a story based in the Call of Duty universe however with my own OCs and plot. It will be an interesting one in the sense that it will be very different from a single character to a group of characters that share a close bond from fighting a war together.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and expect the new one up this weekend except it will be much longer :)**

 **Love,**

 **Stevie**


	14. Important Update

Man I hate myself... But it has to be done, I am having the busiest months of my entire life and with mid terms coming up I will have no time on my hands to write :(. Thank you though my awesome fans who read every chapter I post it means a lot to me, but I will have to postpone my stories until probably next year(which is only a month now btw).

I hope you guys have the patience to wait until I have a lot more time on my hands next year to begin writing a new chapter. The stories are not going stale I have planned and mapped out everything that is going to happen I just can not find time to write the new chapters. As I said I have them all planned out.

Thank you for your patience.

Love, Stevie


	15. Chapter 12: The Siege

Karl ran towards the Keep as fast as he could. He had to admit, he was starting feel the fatigue from running and started to slow his pace down a bit to a fast jog. Sprinting the whole way was not ideal. He could feel the effects of the running as his breathing became labored. Karl paced himself from then on and finally he made it back to the Keep.

As he got to the keep he could see about 6 pelicans flying around, 'Oh no' thought Karl as he saw the guards at the gates were no longer there. He entered the keep to see a warzone, Sangheili and human alike were scattered along them ground. 'Looks like they got what they wanted, a war' Karl thought to himself as he picked up an AR from a dead ONI operative. He ran into the building that contained where he lived and could hear gunshots and plasma shots alike being fired off. As he turned a corner he could see the combat and saw about 6 ONI attacking Jede and what looked like a couple of the guards. He saw one of the guards take a shotgun slug to the chest and fall to the ground, these ONI operatives were wearing ODST armor, or at least very similar armor but the helmets had a yellow visor and were more rounded.

Karl turned the corner and took aim down the sights of the AR and shot a few rounds into the back of one of the operatives. He fell as the rounds penetrated the weak back armor and even some came out the other side, blood splattered all over the wall and Karl moved on to the next target. That one received the same amount of rounds and he also fell to Karl's fire. The third one turned around and had a BR. 'Oh shit' Karl thought as he took cover behind the wall and he heard the loud pops of the bullets and large chunks of the wall began to break next to him. The shots then stopped and he peaked the corner quickly to see Jede sticking an energy sword through the back of the ONI operative and had another one in his hand holding him up.

Karl aimed at the one Jede was holding by the throat and unloaded the rest of his magazine into the man. He instantly went limp as the bullets hit and blood splattered all over Jede.

Karl then walked towards Jede but made sure to keep a close eye out for any more behind him. "Sorry about the armor." Karl joked. "It is easily cleanable, do not fret." Jede said as he pulled his sword out of the dead ONI soldier. "Where is Soya?" Karl asked as he and Jede ran towards Karl's room. He had to get his gear to keep fighting. "She is safe in her room human, me and the guards were protecting her while you were away and the attack started. We need to head to the keep to defend my father." Jede said as he loaded a plasma cartridge into his needle rifle. "I will go you stay here and protect Soya." Karl pointed to the door. "My abilities in my armor will be more useful." Karl said as he unlocked his door and ran into the room.

He was tired but he could not give up now.

Karl quickly began taking off his current clothes, not even caring if Jede was watching. He looked around and Jede was already gone. He quickly got on his ODST armor and grabbed his shotgun and taking the magnum out of the old holster and putting in it his ODST armor pistol holster. He got 32 of each shell, slug and buckshot. He even got 12 rounds of frag ammo just in case. Karl also put 2 grenades and 2 flashbangs in his pouches. He was ready.

Karl exited his room and turned on his cloak from his pad on his wrist. As he was running down the hallway he saw 3 ONI operatives coming into the building. Karl stopped and took aim with slugs loaded in the shotgun, they were all lined up perfectly. 'Idiots' Karl thought as he took aim and fired a slug shell. He saw the first one fall with a large gaping hole in his stomach. He saw the second one fall holding his stomach and screaming in pain. The last one just looked shocked and took aim. Karl pumped the shotgun quickly and shot the next shot into the last one's helmet. He watched as the visor shattered and blood splattered all over the wall. Karl was quick to run up to the second one who was on the ground screaming in pain. He wanted him to suffer but he was better than the savages he was fighting.

Karl walked up to the soldier and put a foot on his chest holding him still. As Karl was holding the shotgun in one hand resting on his shoulder he unholstered his pistol and put a shot into the man's chest. He quickly stopped squirming and Karl nodded as he knew he was dead.

He ran out the door and as he was running he saw a small snagheili child on the ground holding his chest. Karl kneeled next to him and recognized it as the kid he trained a little. He was coughing up blood. Karl couldn't help but feel his heart drop at the sight.

He uncloaked himself so he could let the kid see him. "No please human." It begged. "I'm not going to hurt you kid. It's me the good human who helped you that one day." Karl said as he took the kids hand. The child held his hand and Karl could see the tears forming in the Kid's eyes. "I'm sorry." Karl said as he slowly put the magnum up to it's head. He hesitated but could see the kid was suffering and Karl didn't grab any medical in his rush. He brought himself the courage to finally pull the trigger and the kid stopped crying. Karl let go of his hand and saw the blood he transferred onto Karl's glove. Karl wiped it off on his armor and pressed his cloak again.

As he made his way to the Keep he could see the ONI operatives were outside the main door and were planting charges. Karl saw the dead guards all around the door and knew at that moment they were over run. He then saw the landed pelican, said pelican had a thirty millimeter cannon on the nose. Karl got a good idea. He walked up the rear of the pelican and knocked on the back. "Hey let me in, status update!" Karl shouted. He saw the door open and hid on the side of the Pelican. "Alright cool, whats the upda-" He heard the man stop talking, Karl was hidden and he let a smirk come onto his face. "Hey this is no time for jokes in combat!" The pilot shouted. Karl turned the corner still cloaked. "You're right." Karl said as he sent a slug into the Pilot's chest. He heard an "oof" come from the man and that was it. He also heard the slug hit the back wall of the vehicle. "The fuck was that!" He saw the co pilot run out, at this point Karl was uncloaked and he saw the pilot go wide eyed. Karl swiftly put a slug into his chest also and the co pilot flew back 2 feet and hit the wall, blood splattering all over it. Karl pumped the shotgun and the smoking hot shell came out and bounced off the wall.

Karl put the shotgun onto it's mag clip on the back of his armor and he quickly got into the pilot's seat. Karl switched on manual cannon control and he also saw the operatives getting in breaching formation. Karl started up the engines and he could see a couple of the operatives look at the pelican and shrug. Then he saw one of them point at Karl and looked like he was panicking.

All of the sudden all of them between 12-14 started shooting at the cockpit with ARs, shotguns, and BRs alike. Karl just chuckled as most of them caused a crack in the window or bounced off. Karl hovered a few meters off the ground and put it on auto hover. He then took control of the gun. He saw most of them running to get to cover but it was too late for most of them as Karl started unloading with the rapid fire cannon, it releasing a terrifying 'boom' with each shot. He saw as some of them took the large armor piercing shells and blast into pieces. Limbs were flying everywhere as Karl had the most straight and serious face under his helmet. He saw the bright flashes from the cannon going off. He then heard the gun begin to hiss so he took his finger off the trigger and saw the smoke coming from it. 'Fuck, overheated' Karl though to himself as he got up out of the chair and headed for the back of the pelican. But before doing so he kicked the joystick with a powerful kick and the pelican started going forward. Karl ran for the exit and jumped out just before the pelican rammed into the ground and he saw a couple operatives he missed get hit by the massive plane.

Karl let out a long "Whew" as he got up and loaded a couple of shells into his shotgun. He ran up to the wreckage and saw an operative who was stuck under it, at least his legs were. "No please, Kuhn, please!" The man shouted at Karl as he approached. "Well next time don't shoot civies. UNSC protocol." Karl said bluntly as he pulled the trigger and sent the massive slug into his head. Blood splattered all over Karl as he was point blank. He searched around the site and saw that all of them were dead, at least the ones he could find the bodies of. 'There were seven pelicans, I just hope they didn't drop that many troops' Karl thought as he walked over to the door that wasn't smashed in by the Pelican.

"It is Karl, I'm coming in don't shoot!" Karl yelled as he went in through a gap that was in the door and had his hands up above his head. "That was you that did that human?" Karl saw Jaka and several of his heavily armed body guards come from behind makeshift barricades of furniture. "Yep they are taken care of." Karl said as he hopped over and crouched behind it, scooting next to Jaka. "Thank you Karl. Is my daughter and son safe?" Jaka said in a serious tone. "Yes, Jede is there with her and also a couple of guards." Karl said as he wiped some of the blood off his armor with a small rag.

"My lord!" Karl heard a guard running towards Jaka yell. "What is it Furam?" Jaka said. "We are securing the rest of the Keep m'lord, we have almost flushed all of the... savage... humans out." The guard said with a nod to Karl. Karl nodded back. "Well done my captain, regroup everyone. "Oh and m'lord, we saw movement from the Sulamee keep and we have reason to believe they are conspiring with the humans." The Captain of the guard Furam said. "Just perfect..." Karl mumbled under his breath.

"I'll go on top of the walls and see if this is true, might want to send a few men with me too." Karl said as he got up and started walking towards the door. He heard Jaka shout something in his language and a 3 of the guards began to follow Karl. Karl nodded to them both and they nodded back. Karl broke into a quick jog and the elites with him did as well. When he got out of the court yard he saw all of the Pelicans lift off and most of them being shot at with plasma weapons. He saw the bright purple and pink being shot off into the night sky from somewhere else in the keep.

Karl ran with the Elites right next to him up the stairs that gave access to the walls. When he got to the top he signaled for them to stay where they were. Karl ran over to one of the guard towers and began climbing up it. After he got onto the roof of the guard tower he turned on his thermals. He saw hundreds of Sangheili heat signatures gathering about 500 meters away, all of them armed with covenant weapons and armor. 'Shit, there has to be at least 200 of them' Karl thought to himself as he got out his range finder and tossed it down to one of the sangheili. "Look over there." Karl pointed, the elite nodded and looked with the rangefinder. He saw the elite just let out a sigh and yell at one of his companions in his language. He saw the one that got yelled at run back to the keep.

"They have always been waiting for the right time to strike." He heard the guard say. "Guess so." Karl replied monotone as he crouched on the roof and kept observing them. Karl sighed as he jumped out of the tower, it was only about 10 feet tall so he just tuck and rolled when he hit the ground.

After a few minutes he saw Jaka running with at least 20 guards behind him. "Is it true Karl?" Jaka said to him in what seemed like a panic. "Yep take a look." Karl motioned for the guard that currently had it to give it to Jaka, which he did quickly and Jaka instantly took a look through them and went wide eyed.

Karl looked around at all the guards. "Is this all we have left Jaka?" Karl asked. "Yes, everyone who wasn't seriously wounded or dead." Jaka said with a little sadness in his tone. Karl just let out a huff of air and looked past the wall with his advanced HUD optics. "I will hold this Keep Jaka." Karl spoke up. I will cause as much damage as possible while you set up defenses in the Keep, they are about to assault. "Do not risk it human." Jaka looked at him seriously. "I'm a soldier Jaka it is what I do best. I'm not going to die, at least I shouldn't I am just going to cause as much casualties as possible until you guys set up a defensive position and are able to stand a chance against these assholes." Karl said crossing his arms.

Jaka remained silent and then looked up into the sky. "If you suppose so." Jaka said as he shouted at his guards and all 24 of them followed him back to the keep. Karl saw them all shuffle through the door. Karl ran towards the housing area and ran down the hall. He walked into Soya's room and saw her with Jede in the corner of the room. "Both of you go to the Keep and stay in the furthest closet you can find. A battle is about to start." Karl said as he pointed at both of them. "You too guards." Karl said to the guards who were standing in dark corner of the room. "I will fight in the battle, but my dear sister you must hide." Jede said as he got her up. When they walked past Karl Soya stopped next to him for a second. "Survive, please..." Was all she said. Karl nodded and followed them out.

He watched as they all entered the Keep, there are a total of 27 defenders now. and 250 attackers. Karl was going to kill a lot. He wanted to, he was extra trigger happy tonight.

He sprinted to the bodies of the ONI operatives and grabbed whatever he could off of them. He took a battle rifle from a dead one and put his shotgun on his back. He took twelve magazines in total and stuffed them into every pouch. He grabbed extra grenades and he even found a couple satchel charges. 'These will be useful' Karl thought as he tucked them into his arm, he searched the body for the clicker and soon found it and put in a small pouch on his leg. Karl ran to the wall and into the courtyard He put the two satchels about 10 meters apart, he saw the weight of the charge and new that they had a 15 meter blast radius and a 30 meter shrapnel radius. He used them enough to know all this information. Karl ran over to the tower he was on top of earlier and this time went into it. He stayed very low and turned off his cloak and instead turning on his shields to full power, he would need them. Karl peaked out of the small gap that you would shoot from and saw that they were starting to move towards the castle.

He sat down and took off his helmet since they were moving at a very slow pace. He took out a small protein bar and took a bite of it. After he ate all of it he drunk half of his full canteen. "May god have mercy on my soul." Karl whispered to himself as he said a silent prayer. The first time he had prayed since he was a child.

Karl put the helmet back on and peaked again, seeing they were about 40 feet away he quickly ducked. They were moving in one large column and could hear orders being shouted. He heard them enter the castle, they must have been spreading out into the courtyard by now. Karl peaked over the edge to make sure. They were, they were going right into the trap he had placed for them. He saw at least 40 of them swarming the courtyard now. Many were spreading and searching the buildings here and there. Karl silently took the clicker and saw that his was probably as many as he would be able to get before they spread out too much.

Before he clicked it he heard a couple of them laugh, 'must have told a joke to each other' Karl thought, 'I wonder if they think explosives are amusing' Karl said to himself as he clicked the clicker when at least 12 were in the blast range and 20-30 in the shrapnel range. The explosives went off and he heard cries of pain and agony. Karl just let a smile slide onto his face as he saw the 12 in the radius go flying and several in shrapnel range fall to the ground. Karl took his BR and peaked through the slot. He took aim at one and let the burst into his back. He then went from that one to another, and another, and another until his magazine was empty. He swiftly reloaded with maximum skill and began the process again. After that magazine was expended and one dead elite with each burst. They finally found his position and he ducked as plasma and needles alike began smacking into the walls around him. He took cover and even saw a few go through the aiming slot and hit the wall in front of him as his back was to the wall towards the enemy. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" Karl said to himself as he reloaded another mag. He then took several of the grenades and sat them in a line in front of him. He pulled the pin on each one but did not press the trigger mechanism yet. He grabbed one and pressed the trigger, sending it out the hole with a blind throw. He did this with each one simultaneously and he heard the explosion and screams from the elites. After he ran out of grenades he put his BR on the ground with the fully loaded magazine and loaded frag rounds for his shotgun.

He peaked over his cover and was scanning for groups, there were a few that were taking cover together behind rubble or whatever they could find. Karl aimed into a group of six and fired the shell. It hit the cover and blew up, he saw at least 4 fall to the ground never to get up. The other two were fine and shot at Karl. He heard some hit his shields with a 'hiss' he sent the next shell flying and it killed the last two in that group. He the saw about 3 running together to get to cover, Karl lined up and shot carefully. He saw all three of them get obliterated and limbs flew all over the place.

"Yeah! Fuck you assholes!" Karl screamed at them, his adrenaline reaching crazy levels. He peaked again and shot a shell directly into a lone one in his blood rage. The shell hit and the elite turned into a mist. Karl let out a loud laugh as he saw it explode into nothing but blood. Karl put the shotgun back onto his back and got his BR again as they were spread out and he needed precision again. He peaked and shot a few more and expended his magazine. He looked down and saw at least 3 with energy swords running up the stairs towards him. "Ha" Karl said as he threw the BR to the ground again. He quickly loaded buckshot into his shotgun and aimed at the door. The first one ran through and Karl sent the pellets into his center mass. He saw the elite fly backward and knock over the other ones. Karl began shooting wildly into the fray of elites trying to get through the door. After he was satisfied with the amount of blood he saw and them not moving he peaked out of the window again and shot the buckshot at an elite that was hugging the wall below him. He saw the blood splatter from it's head and it fall against the wall.

Karl heard the 'hiss' of rounds hitting his shield again and he ducked behind the wall as the plasma rounds were smacking the walls again, leaving around baseball sized marks in the walls.

He then heard more Sangheili screaming and he saw one run into the open with a fuel rod gun. Karl went wide eyed and realized he had his shotgun with buckshot and he was out of range. Karl quickly switched to his magnum and shot wildly at the elite with the large launcher. Karl saw a round hit his leg just as he fired and he aimed it above Karl a bit. The large plasma ball hit the top of the tower and made the whole ceiling collapse on Karl. Karl brushed off the debris and peaked again. This time with his BR and he put a burst into it's chest, the fuel rod gun fell out of his hands and the elite fell to the ground hard.

Karl heard more footsteps up the stairs. He quickly aimed his shotgun at the door, which he grabbed after hearing the noise. He aimed at the elites bursting in, all of them with energy swords. All 10 of them. "Oh shit!" Karl said as he quickly shot as much as he could with the shotgun. He saw the first 5 fall but then the shotgun was empty. He chunked it at the one that was now in the front and hit it in the face with the gun. It looked unfazed and angry. Karl did what he could to survive and he jumped out of the tower. He managed to land on one that was running through the gate at the time. Karl's weight made the elite fall to the ground. Karl unsheathed his knife and stabbed it into the back of the elite's neck. He quickly got to his feet and ran to the nearest cover, which happened to have 3 elites taking cover. They looked at Karl in confusion and he looked at them with death in his eyes. He pulled his magnum out and shot all three of them in the head quickly.

Then he remembered his own energy sword. He took it off the mag clip on his thigh and turned it on, ready for a melee fight. The 5 that were in the tower were now out and running towards Karl. Karl charged back and jumped in the air at the first one. It not expecting it Karl tackled it the ground but while doing so had stabbed it in the chest. The next one swung at Karl but he rolled under it and back slashed it in the back. He heard it thump to the ground. The next one had grouped with his friends and it was now a 3v1. Karl just let out his own growl to counter theirs. They all began circling him and they all charged at once. Karl rolled in between a gap with them and watched as they all stabbed each other. Karl let out an obnoxious laugh and turned around as one was taking aim at his chest with a needle rifle.

Karl heard his shield hiss as a needle deflected off of it. He ran to cover and took a plasma rifle from one of the dead elites. He unloaded a furry of rounds and saw the elite take several hits and then fall to the ground. Karl looked around and saw the amount of corpses littering the courtyard, he counted at least 60-70 off his head. Karl then looked to the gate to see at least 50 of them running through, and right towards himself. Karl took a deep breath as he took another grenade. He ran towards the horde and saw them all shooting inaccurately at him. Because they were charging him too. He let out a roar as he chunked the grenade into the group. He immediately stabbed the one closest to him in the chest with his sword and fell to the ground with the dead elite on top of him. The grenade went off and he saw at least half of them disappear in the explosion and the others fall to the ground. He remembered to keep one of the experimental grenades from the terrorist hideout he raided back on Earth.

Karl was tired, but he denied letting himself get fatigued and started taking easy breaths. He looked and saw even more flooding through the gate, running over their dead and wounded comrades. "Kill that human!" He heard one of them shout at the top of it's lungs. Karl recognized him immediately as the asshole who slapped Soya. He recognized Karl as well and saw the sangheili fume with anger. He charged Karl joined by at least 20 others with energy swords. "This isn't very fair." Karl said to himself as he began to sprint full speed to the Keep.

He didn't even stop at the wooden doors to the keep. Karl went full speed and smashed through the door. He rolled on the ground a couple of times after the impact and stumbled up. He saw all the guards were aiming their guns at the door and were behind makeshift cover. "It's me, don't shoot!" Karl yelled as he jump and rolled behind the cover. He laid on the ground, breathing heavily. Jaka hovered over him. "How many did you kill." Jaka said as he gave Karl a hand up to his feet. "Lost count." Karl said as he pointed towards the door. "But there are a lot more coming I softened them up for yuh." Karl said as he took cover with the guards. "You have done enough Karl go rest if you want." Jaka said as he handed Karl a plasma rifle. "You said if I wanted, and I don't want to, this fight isn't over yet." Karl said as he saw that the cartridge was full in the gun. "You are very valiant human." He heard Furam say next to him. "I guess I am." Karl said in response just as the enemy began rushing through the door. With Vaka in the front of the charge. "Hmm, you do the honors Karl." Jaka said. Karl nodded and stood up. "Heeey, asshoooooole!" Karl shouted while pointing the gun at Vaka. He stopped as did all of his soldiers. Karl saw Vaka go wide eyed. Karl Unleashed a hail of plasma into Vaka's chest and he saw him fall to the ground with a loud 'thump' sound. Then every guard in the keep unloaded their weapons into the surprised enemies. After about 2 minutes straight of a constant stream of fire all was quiet. Karl looked around and saw that all that entered the keep were dead.

He then heard voices outside the doors yelling in their own language. "They are saying retreat, we did it!" Furam shouted. Karl let out a massive sigh of relief and looked around. He walked outside the doors, followed by all the guards. When they saw all the corpses they all looked at Karl. "What?" Karl said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I went full blood rage mode, never happened before honestly." Karl said as he crossed his arms at the sight of over 100+ dead bodies.

Jaka walked up beside Karl. "There are many wounded civilians, until we can rebuild we will have to be on full alert. The Suramee Keep sent their entire army at us. Obviously they failed and will not return for a while. I'm sure many would want to live here after they hear of our vistory." Jaka said directed to everyone. Furam translating to the ones who didn't know english. Karl walked back into the keep as the guards spread around to clear the entire keep again. Karl sat down on a bench near the side of the large Keep area. He turned off his shield and took off his helmet. He began rubbing his temples and taking deep breaths. He was tired and had a headache from the fatigue, but he had zero serious wounds, at least from what he could tell, the adrenaline has not worn off yet.

Karl heard footsteps at a fast pace and nearly went for his sword until he felt someone take him into a deep hug. "Are you okay Karl, were you injured did you fight them off..." He heard the questions swarming him. "Soya I'm fine, but thanks for the worry." Karl said as he returned the deep hug in his dirty armor, but obviously she didn't care. "I cannot believe you actually did that." Karl heard as Jede walked back into the keep. He saw the two of them in a deep hug. "Glad to see Soya is happy you are alive. But why is the question." Jede said as he walked towards them. Soya let go and dusted herself off. "We are good friends brother and in human culture humans hug their friends." Soya said seriously. Jede rubbed his chin. "Ha very intimate contact, humans are strange." Jede said in response. Karl just cleared his throat and looked at Jede. "Is the compound clear?" Karl asked as he stood up next to Soya.

"Yes, all is clear, only 10 civilians were killed during this whole fight. Including two children." Jede said with sadness in his tone. Soya covered her mandibles with her hand and Karl could tell she was trying not to cry. "Who?" Soya asked choking back tears. "Baka and Tress. As well as their parents, they were in the courtyard when the humans came, they killed all they saw. It was late and they were walking back to their home." Jede said as he walked closer. Karl was remaining straight faced but Soya sat down on the bench and stared at the ground while tears started to flow out her eyes. "Why did this have to happen, it's all my fault." Soya said. Karl sat down next to her and took her in a hug again. "No it's not, the humans were looking for me, not you. The Suramee keep were just in it for the free land probably." Karl said as he tried to comfort her.

Jede sighed, "I am going to go get rest I suggest you two do the same, especially you Karl, you have done more than enough."

Karl sat up and so did Soya. "I suggest you close your eyes if you are sensitive to this stuff." Karl said as they neared the door. She nodded and closed her eyes. Karl took her hand and began guiding her through the area with the least amount of bodies. He walked her all the way to her room and walked her into it. "You can open now." Karl said as he let go of her hand. She opened her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Good night Soya." Karl said as he began to walk out of the room. Before he could Soya grabbed his shoulder. He turned around and they leaned in and kissed. "Goodnight my love." Soya said as they broke away. Karl smiled and patted her shoulder and put a quick kiss on her cheek. He turned around and before closing the door, "Goodnight Soya." He said as he closed the door and walked to his room. It was still open, he left it that way after he was in his rush to defend the place.

Karl closed the door and locked it, quickly stripping off his armor, he noticed just how bad he smelled and how tired he was, nearly passing out standing up in his under suit. He took that off and quickly put on some athletic shorts and he didn't even put on a shirt. Karl plopped into his bed, 'I'll clean up tomorrow' he thought as he quickly drifted off to sleep.

 **Guys I'm so happy right now, I got to write this chapter as I had an unexpected break to write this, as I'm typing this its about 2am, but I don't care cause this was a totally worth it chapter, probably the longest one I have ever written and it is full of action. I hope you all enjoyed this a ton. This will be the last chapter I will upload this year though, but hey only one month of no updates. That is not very long compared to people who don't write a new chapter for 2 years.**

 **Anyways I am super glad I got to write this, it might be a little sloppy but I will fix it as I reread the story ever week and make sure everything is ship shape.**

 **I hope you all have an amazing christmas and a happy new years cause this is the only time I will be able to say that. Thank you all for the support and reviews and I will see you in January!**

 **Love,**

 **Stevie**

 **P.S. Shout out to Aggiefan and emipopescu for you guy's support, it inspired me to write this chapter this late :)**


	16. Chapter 13: A New Friend Part 1

**Managed to find myself with a ton of time today. Due to having the day off and nothing better to do, here it is. I hope everyone enjoys this very talkative chapter.**

Karl woke up. He felt super tired even after it felt like he slept for a whole day, when he looked up at the clock it turns out he did sleep for about 12 hours. Something he has never done before.

Karl sat up in his bed and got up to go to the bathroom. When he got there he looked in the mirror and saw the shadows under his eyes. His hair had grown to non military regulation and that pissed him off a bit, but not that much. He started to grow somewhat of a stubble and sighed. He took out his shaver and began doing the normal shaving routine. After that he splashed some water on his face and stretched out a bit.

He walked out of the bathroom to hear someone calling him on his PDA. "What?" He said out loud in confusion. He walked over and answered the call.

"Oh my god Karl!" He heard the voice and instantly recognized it as Brandy's. "Holy shit Sarah, I thought you would never call." Karl said as he sat down on his bed and let her video feed pop up and his own. "I'm sorry it took me days to find out how to call you on a safe channel, with ONI wanting your blood and all." Brandy said with a sigh. Karl let an even deeper one out. "So, are they keeping it quiet or is all of Earth on my head." Karl asked.

"Well, they did release wanted on almost every billboard in the city, and well, they came and asked me questions about you. They were probably going to use my 'relationship' with you to make you come back." Brandy said. Karl sat there for a moment and looked up at the ceiling. "What about out relationship. I know we are supposed to be like that, but I think it was just a crutch for our loss for Jorge. I don't think there was really anything special about it." Karl said in full seriousness. "I agree to be honest, as long as we are still friends, I wouldn't mind still loving you as the best friend I ever had." Brandy said.

Karl let a smile slide onto his face, "I couldn't agree more Brandy, how is everything on Earth, have they threatened my family yet?" Karl asked. "No, they have not because Hood told them to leave your family out of this and if they try anything he well hit ONI with the hammer." Brandy said. "Where do you get all this info?" Karl asked surprised. "Dao knows a lot and he knows a lot of people." Brandy said in response.

"Good ol' Dao." Karl said. "Well Brandy I have some business to attend to, if you wouldn't mind telling Hood something for me though. ONI attacked the place I am staying currently and is using locals to also get a way to get to me and possibly my protectee. Which I am sure is way against our treaty. They want a fight they will get one that is for sure." Karl said. "I will tell him the next time he visits Karl. Be safe." Brandy said. Karl nodded, "You be safe too Sarah." Karl said and ended the transmission.

He let a breath of air escape his lips. He sat up and went to his ration box and took out some, after mixing it with water he had a nice chicken soup MRE. After that he got up and put on his scratched and nasty armor, 'Gotta clean this' he thought to himself. Karl got up and walked out of his room but not after grabbing his pistol and energy sword.

He left the room and walked outside of the living building to see that most of the bodies had been cleaned up and he actually saw some civilians walking around doing their daily duties, but he also saw many not outside like there was just a couple days ago. Karl walked up onto the top of the wall and saw that Furam was on top of the wall looking around with his arms crossed.

"Hey." Karl said to let him know of his presence. He heard Furam just let out a grunt and he kept looking forward. "You fought like a demon yesterday human." Furam said when Karl leaned against the lower part of the wall with his arms holding him up. "Did I? And... A... Demon..?" Karl asked. "Yes, beast you humans used to fight us with, they wore armor made of something even our weapons couldn't penetrate." Furam said monotone. "Aahh, you mean a Spartan." Karl said.

"A Spartan? Is that what you humans call them?" Furam asked. "Yep they are named after ancient human warriors that were trained their entire lives to fight. Nothing else. Emotionless souls that do nothing but kill." Karl said. He heard Furam let out a 'hmmm' sound. "But I don't think that is all, true, besides I met one and he didn't seem that bad." Karl said.

"I see." Furam said. "I must go I have to report to m'lord." Furam said and Karl saw in his peripheral vision that Furam went down the steps and off the wall. Karl just kept looking on at the sight before him. It was an almost open field, but he could see the city in the distance and the somewhat tall buildings, but nothing as large as human sky scrapers. Just thinking about that made Karl a little home sick, but nothing too severe. 'I could go for some nice pancakes and syrup, or a nice cup of coffee' Karl thought to himself while he took off his helmet and put it under his arm.

He walked off the wall and towards the main keep area. When he walked in he saw that there were only two of his personal guard left and his wife and Furam now. "My lord, there is no signs of the enemy, I can gladly report I don't think they are coming back." Furam said with some happiness in his tone. "Good captain, now carry on with your duties." He heard Jaka say.

"Ah Karl it is about time you woke." Jaka said leaning forward in his chair a bit. "My bad, I had a long night last night as you can imagine." Karl said with a smile on his face. "Indeed, you fought hard that is for sure, I have had that amount of exhaustion before aswell. I want to propose something to you." Jaka said. Karl nodded.

"I am going to ask if you would leave your personal guard of my daughter and begin guarding the keep instead." Jaka said. "I'm afraid I can't sir, but I will guard the keep regardless, but I still have to stick to my mission." Karl said putting hit helmet on, "Speaking of, I will take my leave sir." Karl said as respectfully as possible. "Of course human." Jaka said as he leaned back into his chair again and began talking to his wife.

Karl left the keep and walked back to the living spaces and went to the nobility area. He went over to Soya's door and knocked. No response. Karl's soldier instincts kicked in for a moment but he pushed them back. "Soya?" Karl said through the door. No response. He knocked again and no one answered.

His inner soldier kicked into high gear as his worry grew, he went to the other side of the hallway and pushed off the wall. He smashed through the solid wooden door and looked around. She was not there, but he did see the smashed blood stained window. He walked closer and upon further inspection saw the blood was purple. He clenched his teeth. 'It was my job to prevent this, fuck!' He mentally slapped himself.

He turned on his heel and as fast as possible ran down the hall. He turned the corner and rammed into Jede. "By the prophets human!" He yelled as they both got up. "Soya's gone Jede, she's been taken." Karl pushed past Jede and he looked back to see Jede's mandibles drop and his eyes widen. Karl kept running and quickly ran out of the building.

He then looked up at the wall and saw the guard. "Open the gate!" Karl yelled at him. He just looked at Karl and then the gate opened. Karl sprinted out and went to the same window that she was dragged from. He looked at the blood that stained the window and then he turned on his infared vision. He looked to the ground and could see the blood trail. So he followed it. After turning on his cloak of course.

Karl followed it into a large wooded area where it began to get smaller and smaller. Karl stopped when a clearing popped up and he saw a large ONI prowler and 4 to 5 agents in the distance wearing their special ODST gear. Karl turned off his infared and now just looked that them. He used his cloak to sneak closer and he got right to the back of the prowler. "When do we leave sir?" He heard what sounded like a tired feminine voice say. "As soon as it reaches nightfall, so we don't get spotted." Said a much older and rougher male voice. "Now shut it."

Karl climbed up to the top of the prowler and just sat there, he was going to see where they were taking her. After waiting patiently he made sure his helmet was on, 'comms mode' which meant no one outside his helmet could hear him, only himself and who he was on comms with. "Jede, do you read me?" Karl asked, "Yes I read you human." "Look I am on the transport they are taking her in, I am going to see wherever they are taking her and hopefully blow it up." Karl said. "Okay, make sure she is unharmed before my father does anything rash, she is his pride and joy." Jede said. "Copy that, make sure you keep the place safe while I am gone." Karl said and cut the comms.

After a few hours it started to get a bit dark and he could hear them, "Alright load up, boss wants her safe and sound, unharmed, so lets go before Kuhn shows up." He heard the leader of them say and then he heard the footsteps of them loading up. Soon the engines flared up and he heard them begin to throttle. Karl mag booted to the prowler and stayed crouched down. He held on as they began to ascend towards the atmosphere.

After several minutes and they started speeding up to what Karl could guess was over mach 2. They ended up in space. Karl looked up into the HUD of his helmet. 'Oxygen supply, 100% nice' Karl thought to himself. His armor was completely vacuum sealed. After a while he saw the giant ONI corvette. 'Wow, they have been here a while' Karl thought to himself as they neared it.

'Time to kick ass and take names and blow up a whole fucking ship' Karl thought to himself. Karl ducked as they docked with the ship, he laid completely flat on top of the ship.

He heard the sound of the ship landing and also the sound of the engines shutting off. Karl still had his cloak on and had about 50% power left for it. He peaked over the top of the prowler and saw them walking out of the ship with Soya, two of them holding each of her arms while dragging her across the ground. Soon he saw the door to the hangar open and, what he saw will be in his mind forever. A spartan wearing pitch black armor, a spartan in the Mk II armor in fact, which was just a bit dated. The spartan was escorting a man wearing black pants and a black shirt, as well as wearing an ONI cap on his head. Karl saw Colonel rank insignias on his collar.

Soon the two groups met in the middle. "Ah wonderful to have you here my lovely ambassador. It really is a shame you are on such good terms with Kuhn or I wouldn't have to of forced you here." He heard the man say. Just his voice made Karl cringe, 'Sounds like a rich boy who's money is compensating for penis size' Karl thought to himself and nearly chuckled. He then went into full focus mode. He knew he only had a magnum and an energy sword, but he would make them work.

"Or I will just let him follow you." The man said as he looked to the top of the prowler, as did the Spartan. Who aimed the Assault rifle on his back at exactly where Karl was. Karl knew he had been found, "Alright you caught me." Karl said as he uncloaked and would let his energy regenerate. He jumped down from the Prowler and sat there in front of it. He saw the leader of the ONI squad turn around, "How did he..." He heard him say. Karl just shrugged, "Learn to cover blood trails, what amateurs." Karl mumbled.

The leader walked towards Karl, looking very angry. "Stay away from him Gibson! He is dangerous!" The colonel said. The leader stopped and walked away, "Take her to the brig I will see that Kuhn joins her." The colonel said, they group walked away with Soya, who looked shocked, happy and sad at the same time. The door to the hangar closed behind the colonel as he walked out. Now it was Karl and the Spartan, who looked at least 7-8 feet tall.

He just stared blankly at Karl with his bronze colored visor. Karl stopped leaning on the Prowler and walked until he was feet away from the Spartan pointing the gun at him. "Well, let's get this over with." Karl knew he probably wouldn't win. But he had to try. "Let's dance Kuhn." He heard the spartan say through his helmet, with a very deep voice. Karl went into focus mode as he took out his energy sword and activated it. The spartan threw down his gun and then put his fists up, and they began to circle each other, waiting for the other to attack.

The spartan went first as he charged Karl, Karl went wide eyed at the speed the spartan had and quickly rolled out of the way, but as soon as he got back up the spartan put a large metal boot to Karl's face. The shield took most of it but Karl still went sliding several feet. Karl still had grip of the sword and jumped back to his feet, just to see the spartan charging him again. Karl charged back and slid under his legs, swiping with the energy sword and hitting him in the leg. Karl jumped up and turned around the spartan looked at Karl blankly still from his mask and looked down at his leg that the sword did not penetrate the armor. Karl let a sigh of frustration escape him, this would be hard.

The spartan charged Karl again and when Karl went to dodge he felt something grab his foot. He felt himself being lifted off the ground and then he knew he was airborne. He looked at the wall that he was nearing and tried to move in mid air, but he couldn't. A ton of pain went flying through his body as he felt his back hit the wall. He slumped to the ground and saw the Spartan nearing him again. He had flown at least 30 feet into the wall on the other side of the hangar. Karl had trouble catching his breath as he got back up slowly. By the time he got up the spartan was already on his and sent a punch to his gut. Karl put a hand over the punch and then felt the knee to his visor. His visor cracked at the impact but didn't break. Karl used all his strength to begin swinging the sword at his attacker. He felt the energy sword make contact with the spartan's chest plate. He looked up and saw it had melted that armor away, but did nothing else. The Spartan threw a punch as Karl was pinned to the wall. Karl moved away and heard the metal get smashed as the Spartan's fist went into it. He then couldn't help but smile when the Spartan's hand was stuck in the wall.

Karl used the advantage to weaken the spartan, as he used all of his strength to stab in energy sword into that arm stuck in the wall. He heard the hissing sound and saw the plasma blades go through the armor perfectly and come out the other side of the arm. Karl heard the spartan release a grunt as the blade came out. Then Karl felt a hand grab his arm. Karl got his other hand and pulled his magnum out. He unloaded a full magazine into the spartan's face, but the bullets just bounced off harmlessly. Karl felt his arm get pulled forward and then his whole body got lifted off the ground. He flew another 10 feet and slid across the ground. He couldn't feel that arm, he looked and saw that it was limp. 'Dislocated, fuck' Karl thought as he felt the energy sword slip from his grip.

Karl looked forward and saw the spartan had gotten the hand out of the wall and was now charging him again. Karl grabbed the energy sword with the other hand. "Why are you even helping them, you know they are sick fucks!" Karl yelled at the spartan. The spartan then stopped the charge, digging his boots into the metal. "What?" He heard the spartan say. "I'm no criminal, I was just doing my service to the UNSC, protecting my mission!" Karl yelled at the Spartan, but he saw it didn't flinch. Instead it pulled out a magnum. "Fuck you man, fuck ONI, just wait till Hood finds out about this." Karl said as he held his limp arm. "He won't, Kuhn." Karl heard over an intercom system. "You realize what we are doing is for the good of humanity." The voice said again, and he knew it was the colonel. "Good of humanity? How is starting another war where more people will die 'good of humanity'? Huh? Causing more people to die?" Karl yelled back, to a camera. "Pussy couldn't face me yourself so you made your pet fight me." Karl looked over to the spartan who was just pointing a magnum at him. "I'm no pet. I'm a soldier." The spartan said. "Oh you're a solider? Then why aren't you taking orders from the UNSC? These guys are just intelligence, not a war department." Karl said. The spartan tilted his head. "What, intelligence?" The spartan said with a little anger in his tone. Karl nodded. "Want to fight, then help me blow this ship to smithereens, these people are traitors to the UNSC, they are killing our allies and they are killing humans, for their own benefit." Karl said, sounding as serious as possible. The spartan looked up at the camera. "Traitors eh." The spartan said. "Don't listen to him 119!" The intercom said. "Ah shut up. Traitors." The spartan said and then shot the camera in the hangar and the intercom speaker. Then the alarms went off. Karl smiled under his cracked visor and then pushed his arm back into place with a snap. "Ah, fuck." Karl said as he grabbed his energy sword. "We have to alert UNSC command of this." The spartan said. "Let's worry about that later, for now we need to blow this ship up.

The spartan nodded, "Behind you, sergeant." The Spartan said as Karl walked to the hangar door. "Can I borrow that a moment sarge." The spartan said pointing to the sword. "Go for it." Karl said as he tossed the sword to the Spartan. The spartan then put it to the ONI logo that was on his arm until it was seared off then tossed it back to Karl. Karl nodded and put it back to his mag lock. He pulled out his magnum and loaded a fresh magazine into it and chambered a round. He looked back to see the spartan grabbing an his assault rifle and then running back over to Karl. "Know where the brig is Spartan?" Karl asked. "Affirmative, transferring to your HUD."

Karl got the marker on his HUD, "Thanks." Karl said as he pressed the button and opened the door to find about 30 people with guns waiting for them, 'Cakewalk' Karl thought. Karl peaked the corner and shot a round into each of them until all 8 rounds in his mag were out, and he saw 8 of them fall with holes in their heads and blood flying out of the back and front. The spartan just stood in the hallway and his shields were taking all of the hits. He watched as the spartan was maneuvering around the hallway and would shoot a couple rounds into each one with pin point accuracy in the heart. They would fall. He watched as the spartan cleared the entire hallway in seconds.

Karl stood in shock, he was impressed. Karl run up to the Spartan and looked around, "We have a prisoner to rescue Spartan, let's go." Karl said as he and the Spartan began to run down the hallway towards the Brig.

 **Sorry to leave it on a cliffhangar but this is all I had time for, I am making the second part soon, maybe this weekend idk, I managed to scoop up a couple hours to write this so I will be able to make grammatical fixes and stuff. Welp I hope you enjoyed the chapter and part 2 will be coming soon.**


	17. Chapter 14: A New Friend Part 2

Karl and the Spartan were running through the halls practically unopposed, when they did encounter a crewman he just watched as they cowered in fear and then ran for their lives, not even trying to fight. 'Good ONI better run' Karl thought as he aimed his magnum up to shoot a fleeing crewman in the back. A large armored hand grabbed Karl's wrists. "I may be a killing machine sergeant, but they aren't a threat." The Spartan said in a matter of fact tone. Karl let tension of the trigger, "You are right, lets waste ammo on the ones who shoot back." Karl replied as he began moving down the halls following the marker on his HUD towards the brig.

When Karl peaked the corner to the hallway with all the cells he was met with a barrage of gunfire. He quickly took cover behind a pillar and began returning fire. The Spartan did the same on the opposite end of the hall. Karl peaked and shot one in the chest, he saw blood coming out from the man's mouth and then he quickly fell to the ground. "Parker!" Karl heard someone next to the dead man shout and crouch down. Karl didn't shoot instead he watched. The agent just began crying, Karl just stood there, not really faltered by the emotional scene. "Put down your arms and I will not shoot!" Karl yelled at them. He watched as the rest of the agents dropped their weapons and stepped to the side. Karl walked over to a cell and opened it, "Everyone inside now!" Karl shouted with authority, something he picked up being an NCO. He kept his gun trained on all of them as they walked into the cell, he counted 11 in total. He stopped the agent that cried. "Why are you crying?" Karl asked genuinely intrigued. The man looked up at Karl, "I have known him for years, I'm sorry, why did you have to kill him..." He looked Karl straight through the visor. "That's war kid, you have to get over death, were you in ONI during the Human Covenant war?" Karl asked still aiming the gun to his head.

"No, I joined a few weeks ago." He stated. Karl glared at him, "Then you don't know what loss is, get in the cell." Karl said ruthlessly. The man nodded and walked into the cell. Karl quickly locked it and focused his attention to the other cells. "Which one is she in..." Karl asked himself as he looked through the window in each one.

The Spartan was just standing nearby probably watching the prisoners. All of the sudden a alarm blared and red lights started flashing around the ship. "Attention all hands, this is not a drill, get to your battle stations immediately." A PA system announced. Karl just shrugged and went through each cell. "She's not here Spartan. Probably took her to the bridge." Karl said as he checked the last one with no sign of Soya.

"So who's higher rank here Spartan?" Karl asked as he walked towards him. "You are Sergeant, you are the rank of Sergeant Major, in the marines which is a separate branch from the Navy. I am a Petty officer 1st class, which is a staff sergeant. So technically you are in charge here." The Spartan finished. Karl nodded, "I treat all NCOs just like if we were privates who knew each other since basic, I'm no command freak, so be thankful." Karl said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Anyways we should really get moving Spartan." Karl said as he motioned for him to follow, the Spartan started following Karl as they started heading towards the bridge. "Please, call me Leo sergeant." The Spartan said. "Alright Leo, let's get moving then." Karl said in reply as they started making their way towards the bridge.

On the way there they hadn't encountered a single crewman, they must have all went to get into defensive positions of the bridge or possibly actually moving to their battle stations, or maybe they had already killed all the security staff. Karl didn't know he just wanted to save Soya, if it was for his mission or his feelings for her he didn't know, he just had to get her out of ONI's nasty ass hands.

Karl held up his fist as they nearly reached a corner. Leo stopped behind him. "Let me take a peak the Bridge is right around the corner, there is a long hall to the door they might have put defenses in." Leo said. "Negative, I have my cloak remember." Karl said quietly, to not alert anyone that might be around. Leo nodded and waved his hand as if telling Karl to go. Karl nodded and pressed the button on his forearm and in a split second he was noticeable until he was right next to his target.

Karl peaked the corner and saw about 30-40 agents all armed with 9mm pistols and light combat armor, most of them wearing hats not even helmets. Karl gave a sly grin as he looked at all of them from his peaking spot in the corner. He went back and turned off his cloak and turned his shields on. "30 to 40 of them, all wearing light combat armor and only armed with nine mills." Karl said as he loaded a fresh magazine into his magnum and put the energy sword in his other hand. "Should we try to talk to them." Leo said, "They wouldn't stand a chance Kuhn." "Yeah you are right, I will try." Karl said as he turned his shields on to max and stepped out into the hallway.

"You don't stand a chance put down your arms and walk away and you will not be harmed!" Karl yelled at them. For a second they all looked shocked and just stared at Karl. "How can you guarantee that, asshole!" He heard one of them shout. "You are one guy, and you did what you did!" Another one shouted, "We should just end this and kill him." Another one said. Leo stepped around the corner with his AR on his back and Karl saw the two SMGs that he held in his hands, ready to be fired. "It will be a slaughter it is not worth it!" Karl shouted at them. "Slaughter us like you slaughtered all those other agents huh!" A female agent shouted.

"In every one of those situations I was defending myself or my assignment. Everything I did was for the UNSC not against it!" Karl shouted back. "Bullshit!" He heard one shout. Karl stepped closer. "Stop or we will fire Kuhn!" Another one shouted. "I am trying to tell you guys the truth, just listen to me!" Karl said. "The first time it happened, the reason I went on the run, was because they came out of nowhere after an attack on me and the ambassador I was escorting, I had solid proof it was planned for a long time because the attackers, who dressed like civis, turned out to be agents in disguise, they had top notch fire arms and equipment, and I raided a lot of Ennie hide outs in my day, and they never had shiny guns." Karl yelled at them. "Then you assholes show up to tell me I have to come with you, for what? I don't take orders from ONI!" Karl shouted, "Never have never will!" Karl finished. "I killed them because they shot first, after I flash-banged them of course, they just started shooting like idiots, when they should have just sat by and watched me escape." Karl said.

They all just stared at Karl in shock. "Is this really true?" He heard one of them ask. "Yes coming from me, a guy who has his entire life been raised to tell the truth and being a soldier of the 1st Special Operations Brigade after 10 years in the ODST, yes, if you want proof just look up my records, which I bet the Colonel never showed any of you before he told you guys to hunt me down." Karl said.

They just looked at him longer. "Now drop your weapons and there will be no more bloodshed on this vessel." Karl said sternly. He saw one of them set their pistol down on the ground, "What are you doing Hudson?" "I'm not fighting these scary bastards." Then after that most of them dropped them almost instantly. After the last one dropped their gun Karl nodded to them. "Now scoot, before I start knee capping." Karl said sternly. In a few seconds they all had ran out of the hallway and elsewhere.

"Damn fine job, you might be a good diplomat one day Kuhn." Leo stated. Karl just shrugged, "In the UNSCs dreams Leo." Karl said as he walked down the hall and Leo followed close behind. Karl spotted the camera in the corner of the hall and looked up into it. "I bet you are pissing your pants right now." Karl said into the camera, he then put a bullet straight into the lens and watched as the camera blew into sparks and fell to the ground.

Karl stretched out a bit. "You got access to the door?" Karl asked Leo, "Yep full clearance." Leo stated plainly, "Well open her up." Karl said as he prepared himself for anything to happen.

Leo went to the panel and smashed it with his fist, "Full clearance, Kuhn." Leo stated again. "Smart ass." Karl couldn't help but let out a small chuckle even though his heart rate went through the roof according to his HUD.

Karl watched as the door slid open, and what he saw he would never forget, Soya was on the floor surrounded by at least 5 what looked like very elite agents, all of them with shotguns straight at her head. The colonel was smugly standing behind them with his hands behind his back. "About time you showed up Kuhn." The colonel said in his rich boy voice which made Karl cringe. "I wanted to see your reaction as my 5 most loyal men here blew her brains all over the floor." He stated.

"You realize colonel what you are doing here is an unforgivable crime." Leo said as he stepped into the room. "Spartan, you will not live to be able to tell anyone what happened here, Kuhn will be caught by me and tried in front of the supreme court. And this sangheili here will be a lovely ransom. That is if Karl agrees to my terms." The colonel stated while pacing slowly back and forth.

Karl was fuming but he was controlling his anger for the most part, if he lost his control here, she would die. "Ah okay, I'm glad my helmet cam caught you saying that, just sayin." Karl blurted out, "Oh shit did I just say that out loud, oh no." Karl stated worriedly. "Your what?" The colonel said again. "Oh my helmet camera, that is capturing everything since the beginning of the whole endevour." Karl said monotone. "You better not dare release that!" The colonel shouted, his soldiers pumped their shotguns. "Pfft, you think she means anything to me personally, all she is, is my mission, and if anything you will be caught on camera committing a murder. While in my case I was recorded killing criminals that threatened to start a war between our two lovely races. Which I have found to like since my visit to their homeworld, their culture is just amazing you know. I fought a war against them and here I am making friends with them." Karl stated monotone. "And don't forget how I did fight the covenant during the war, and what did you do? Sit on your ass in Harvard getting education just so you can use it to be a giant dick bag." Karl finished. 'Man I hate monologues' Karl thought as he took a deep breath after his little rant.

He even saw the elite agents moving uneasily. Then he heard one of them whisper. "Sir, do we kill her?" The colonel just sat there in silence. "I don't recommend doing that." Karl looked over and saw some of the deck crewman with their sidearms out pointing them at the Colonel and his men. "Put your weapons down now, all of you." Said a man wearing a hat with a naval Captains hat on, "I'm taking my ship back colonel you are under arrest." The Captain said as he walked up behind the Colonel and put a pistol to his back. "Now." He stated sternly into to Colonel's ear. "You will be going to the Brig, sir." The Captain stated as the elite agent's weapons were snatched from their hands and they were zip tied. Karl then saw some of the crewman he let go earlier coming in and surrounding the agents.

"Escort them the hell off my bridge." He said and they grabbed them and took them to the brig.

"Captain Jeffrey Boyes, pleasure to finally meet them infamous Karl Kuhn." He said putting a hand out to Karl, who had to admit he was shocked. Karl took his hand in his own armored one. "It's a pleasure Captain, sir." Karl said as he saw Leo walking over to Soya and helping her up. "Bastard used rank to control my little Frigate here a couple months ago, and ONI threats. Thank god I had fate on my side." Boyes said. "Damn right sir, what's our next course?" Karl asked. "We will be heading to Cairo station straight away to lock these bastards up." Boyes stated matter of factly, "I will find you a room, hell you can have the colonel's room." Boyes stated as he patted Karl's shoulder.

"What about your crewman I killed sir." Karl stated openly, "I forgive you, they were not under my control unfortunately." Karl nodded.

"That was some monologue you had there, never believed their shitty propaganda anyways." Boyes stated. "I'm glad I keep managing to meet non asshole officers." Karl said out loud. "I'll take that as a complement sergeant, you can go rest now if you want." Boyes said waving Karl away. "Yes sir." Karl said as he walked over to Leo who was holding Soya in his arms, she was beaten bad. 'Bastards, I will get them back for this' Karl thought as he stepped in front of Leo. "Our doctors don't know much about their anatomy, I will take her to the Colonel's room and let her rest." Karl stated as he put his arms out and Leo put her in his arms. "By the way Leo, thanks for the help man, couldn't have done it without you." Karl said giving Leo a respectful nod. "No problem, it was all for the alliance." Leo said as Karl left the bridge.

Karl followed the HUD marker that was on his helmet to get to the colonel's room. "Karl..." Karl heard the weak voice say his name. "I gotcha Soya, you are safe now." Karl said as he looked down at her. He entered the room and saw the expensive furniture and the large window for viewing the outside. "How many times have... you saved me now." Soya said weakly. "I think that makes 5 or 6." Karl went along with the joke to humor her. He heard her let out a soft chuckle and then grab her stomach, "Slow it down there, you are hurt bad." Karl said as he rubbed his thumb on her shoulder where he was holding her.

He put her down softly on the bed, "Sleep now." Karl said softly as he rubbed her cheek with his armored glove. As fast as he said that she had her eyes closed and was completely asleep on the bed. But Karl had some business to take care of.

He walked out of the room and towards the brig area of the ship. When he got there he saw the cleaning crews cleaning up the blood on the walls and floors from when Karl shot the man. He walked to the door holding the prisoners and saw someone guarding the cell. "I need to have a word with the 'sir'." Karl stated monotone. "Uh, okay." The soldier stated as he opened the door for Karl, and he saw the Colonel was in a cell all by himself. 'Perfect' Karl thought as he stepped in and saw the Colonel sitting in the corner.

"Hi there Colonel." Karl said as he stood over the hunched over ONI officer. Saw you beat up my protectee pretty bad, what was that for?" Karl said as he crouched eye level with the Colonel. "She was asking for it, she wasn't answering my questions." He said with venom on his tongue. "Ah okay, can you answer a question for me." Karl asked with even more venom. The Colonel scoffed. "Well I was going to ask, Did you think there would be no retaliation, that your plan would work?" Karl said monotone. "Uhh, I dunno." The colonel said looking at the floor.

"Welp didn't answer my question what a fucking shame." Karl said as he pulled his fist back and picked the Colonel up with his other hand. Almost lifting him off the ground. Karl smashed his armored glove into the Colonel's nose and heard the sickening crack as he broke his nose, making it go a weird angle. He then put another punch in the same spot making the go even weirder. Karl watched as the blood flowed from his nose. Karl then smacked him in the mouth, again and again. He could see the blood pouring from his cut up gums.

Karl then put a knee to his crotch and he heard the Colonel yelp in pain and his legs started failing. But Karl held him up with his enhanced anger driven strength. Karl put his heel into the Colonel's knee and it went backwards, the Colonel let out another scream of pain. "Now you got a leg like them, maybe you will treat them better." Karl shouted right in the Colonel's face through his helmet. Karl threw the colonel onto the ground. He sent one last kick into his chest before 'dusting' off his armor.

Karl looked back at the Colonel before leaving and saw he was crying, "Don't be a pussy, you brought this upon yourself." Karl said completely monotone like he didn't just do what he did and walked out of the cell. He looked at the guard at the front of the cell. "Get a medic in there." Karl pointed to the cell. The soldier looked at him and then peaking into the cell, Karl saw the guy make a grinding sound with his teeth and he looked back at Karl and nodded. As Karl walked away he saw the guard on comms, with who he hoped was the medic.

'Damn that felt good' Karl thought as he stretched his arm out on the way back to his room.


	18. Chapter 15: The Truth

Karl went back to the room and took a seat in a chair in the corner. Just like old times. Except he never looked at Soya when she was asleep. As he looked over at the seemingly peaceful sleeping figure. Karl let out a sigh, he didn't even know what he was doing anymore. To be honest he just wanted to go back to being a normal ODST trooper, someone who could be told orders and simply do them. Without all this secrecy and bullshit of being higher up. Especially since ONI gave him all that juicy public attention so people could hunt Karl down at their own will.

Karl just sighed and let sleep take over his body, he has had a long day if anything he deserved it.

Karl woke up to a silent room. He looked around and didn't see anyone but Soya's sleeping body in the bed. He turned low light vision on as he stood up and walked towards the door. As he opened the solid metal door he immediately regretted turning low- light on. He was almost blinded until he turned it off instantly. He looked around the halls and saw all the crewman going along their normal business. When a couple looked at him they gave him a look of what Karl could only guess was hate. He ignored the looks. He didn't care for the opinion of others of him, unless it was someone he cared a lot for.

"Kuhn!" Karl heard the voice and instantly recognized it. Captain Boyes came around the corner and bumped into Karl. "Oh sorry sergeant." Boyes said as he wiped off his shirt. Karl just nodded and looked at him. "I just wanted to let you know we will be arriving at the station in a few hours. Karl nodded again and looked at Boyes. "What happens when we arrive Captain. I don't think the public really likes me." Karl said monotone as usual. "Well, I have arranged a meeting with some higher ups in the UNSC to discuss these events more carefully with. Hopefully they are understanding or in a good mood. Especially the director of ONI who will be there." Boyes said explaining to Karl.

"So, I am basically going on trial?" Karl said straightforward. "Yep, you better have a good explanation to everything." Boyes responded.

"Oh, I do trust me." Karl said.

"Well you have a good day, and I'm sending one of my on board medics to check out your elite friend." Boyes said as he left.

Karl just mumbled out an "A-firm" and kept looking around the hallways.

Just then an alarm went off, 'For fuck's sake' Karl said in a mix of anger and a bad mood. Out loud and in his head.

Karl looked around and then dashed off towards the bridge. When he entered he saw Boyes frantically talking. "Get our shields up and make sure all gunners are prepped, I don't want a fight but hell if it comes to it." Boyes said. When Karl ran up he had no idea what he was talking about. Then he saw the 5 other UNSC Cruisers heading towards them aggressively.

"Captain sir, I really think you should talk to them." Karl said, "You know instead of panicking, to be fair they are UNSC." Karl said. Boyes looked around, "Oh yeah right." Boyes said as he hit his head a couple times. Karl just let out a chuckle.

"This is the USS Vengeance to unidentified vessel, respond or be boarded and your crew interrogated." A voice came through on what Karl guessed was the comms. A young women responded calmly, "This is the vessel USS Pyro, a special operations vessel, serial code I-34512."

"Copy that Pyro, you check out fine, we heard of your arrival, we will give you a fine escort back to Cairo, latch on." The young male voice came through. "You heard them ladies and gentleman begin attaching procedure. Nice of them to give us a ride back home." Boyes said and he saw his pilot and co- pilot begin doing their thing. Karl had no idea what the hell they did anyways. He didn't join the navy to be a damn pilot. Karl laughed internally at his own joke, cracking a smile on his face under his helmet.

Karl let out a sigh of relief at the same time. "What's that for?" Boyes said. "I wanted them to board." Karl said jokingly. He saw that Boyes got the joke and smiled. Karl then turned on his heels and walked out of the bridge. On his way out he saw Leo coming down to the bridge. "Hello sergeant major" Leo said.

Karl looked at him, "Hello Leo." They shook hands. "What was the alarm about?" Leo asked. "A small task force sent out to escort us found us and is currently escorting us." Karl said with a sideways smile. Leo just let out a 'hmph' and turned to walk with Karl.

"So what is your story Leo? I mean you are a spartan after all." Karl looked over to him. "I was hidden more or less, didn't get as much public attention as the Chief, because I didn't want it." Leo said, "From then I kind of went from small missions for ONI, to training myself to be better." Leo said. Karl hummed a little. "So I am guessing you know my story, from the files ONI probably gave you on me." Karl said straightforward.

"Oh definitely without a doubt." Leo said, "But all I saw were acts of valor and bravery, nothing off about you except near the end when your apparent 'murders' started popping up." Leo said as they turned a corner. "Yeah all that shit at the end was them just coming after me and someone I was supposed to protect, which I did to all of my ability. I was not going to fail the mission at any costs." Karl said. "So how was Sanghelios and it's people while you were there.?" Leo asked as they entered the mess area. "Some were good, some were bad, lucky I met all the good ones and they were good people, even a veteran that said he fought one of you." Karl said as they lined up to get food.

"But the bad ones were in kahoots with ONI and took up arms to kill or capture me and in the process take over the Keep I was staying in." Karl said as he got his food and Leo got his food as well and they went and sat down in a table in the corner. "So you managed to fend them off?" Leo asked. "Oh yeah definitely, it was about 10 to 1 after ONI attacked the keep and weakened us. You wouldn't believe me, but I killed about 80% of them before I had to fallback to our defensive positions." Karl said as he took off his helmet with a 'hiss' and took in the not so fresh but alright air.

Then Leo did the same revealing a almost normal face except for a scar on his left cheek from jawbone to his temple. He had buzz cut brown hair and brown eyes. "Ha you look normal, never seen a spartan without a helmet before." Karl stated. "I would say the same to you, my killing machine friend." Leo said. Then the ship shook slightly. "Looks like we docked." Karl said as he looked at the ceiling.

"So when we fought, did you think you would win?" Leo asked as he took a bite of his food. "Oh hell no, but I thought I would at least try, then convince you dramatically of their lies, looked like it worked." Karl said smiling. "Hmmmmmmmm." Leo let out a long sound of thinking. "Like a plot of a bad movie?" Leo asked.

"Yah, like a plot of a bad movie." Karl repeated. Then they both let out a little chuckle. "So I thought Spartans weren't supposed to have emotion other than kill or be killed?" Karl asked. "Well I am special you see, I am a prototype of a spartan with more emotion than the normal one, to see how well I bond with my team." Leo said.

"Where's your team?" Karl asked as respectively as possible. "They were all killed, on Reach. I was not there to help them." Leo said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Hey, it's alright I know what it feels like to lose friends too." Karl said trying to comfort him. "Yeah, we all have lost something in that war." Leo said.

"But look at the bright side Leo, you made a new friend." Karl said as he pointed at himself and smiled. "Yeah I guess I did, we are all human, augmented or not." Leo said as he finished his meal and put his helmet on. Karl followed suit and put his helmet on too. They both put their trays back and walked out of the mess hall.

Karl and Leo walked back to Karl's room. "Well I will let you go and continue your mission Karl, glad we talked." Leo said as they stopped outside Karl's door. "I gotta say the same Leo." Karl said as they shook hands and Leo turned and left down the hall. Karl let out a sigh as he turned towards his door and walked in to see Soya fully awake with a young women next to her, it looked like they were having normal conversation as the young women was patting a cloth on a wound.

"Oh welcome Sergeant. Have a seat and I'll tell you her condition." The young women said, completely focused on her work and conversation with Soya. "So whatcha ladies talking about." Karl asked as he sat in a chair and crossed his legs on a stand. "Oh, just talking about men, don't worry Karl." Soya responded. One of Karl's eyebrows raised but he decided to not push it further for his own good. Karl leaned back and watched as the corpsman did her job and also chatted with Soya some. Karl mainly kept his ears closed and acted asleep so he did not have to hear what they were talking about. Then he went into his thoughts which he hasn't done for some time.

He started to think about his relationship with Soya and also his friendship with the Spartan. Then a snap broke him from his thoughts. He looked at the medic who was snapping her fingers in front of Karl's visor. "Yes?" Karl said annoyed. "Sergeant, she will be fine, the cuts are cleaned and patched, the bruises will be gone very shortly, I don't know their anatomy but they probably have faster healing processes then we do." The doctor said to Karl. Karl nodded, and looked at Soya who seemed to be happy despite what she endured.

"Thank you doc, appreciate the help." Karl said, "And I appreciate the praise Sergeant." She said before she waved to Soya and left the room. Soya then looked at Karl and did their version of a smile at him. Karl sighed and sat up, picking up the chair and walking over to her. He then put it down and sat next to the bed. "How you feeling?" Karl asked as he took his helmet off. "Much better, and I can't thank you enough for saving me again." Soya said as she hugged Karl. Karl returned the hug and planted a kiss on her head. "To be honest I don't know whether it is the mission or my feelings that are making me do this crazy shit anymore." Karl said as he released her and leaned back down on the chair.

"Well whatever it is, it is highly appreciated that you help me so often. I couldn't fight if I wanted to, I hate violence, but it seems that it happens so often in this universe." Soya said as her face dropped. "Well the fight you are doing now, which is for the survival of this alliance is enough." Karl said as he took her hand.

"And it is a fight you are going to win whether you like it or not, cause if this alliance breaks and war happens between our two races again. I can not say what side I would fight for." Karl said as he looked her in the eyes. "You better do everything in your power to keep shit from hitting the fan, we are going to Earth again, which means you need to go straight to those human representatives and tell them about everything that has happened to you." Karl said.

"I have to do the same shit, except in front of humanities top people. If I do one thing wrong I am fucked." Karl said. "And there is nothing I can do, you will be on your own." Karl said.

Karl let go of her hand and leaned back, "And in a few hours we reach the place I gotta do all this shit on." Karl said and looked down at the floor. "Whatever happens, if I fail to convince them to let me live, you need to continue trying to make this alliance last, no matter the cost." Karl said seriously, "No matter the cost, got me?"

"Yes, of course Karl." She said as seriously back. "Good, cause if something like the Human- Covenant War happens again, we are fucked." Karl said plainly.

"Attention Crew, we are beginning our docking with the military platform Cairo, all crew, be ready to disembark." A PA system said to all. Karl let out a sigh as he put his helmet back on and lifted his hand, Soya took his hand and gave him one last hug before they would be separated for the first time in a while. Karl let go of her hand after one final squeeze and they both went through the door.

As they walked down the hall towards the hangar Boyes came down the hall and stopped Karl. "Karl, they want all your weapons away and for you to be unarmored and cuffed." Boyes said calmly. "I'll comply captain, I will be right back." Karl said as he walked back into the room, but before closing the door, "Make sure all my things are taken care of Captain!" Karl yelled at him, "You got it sergeant, you have my word!" Boyes yelled back before the door closed.

Karl let out a sigh as he took his helmet off and then took his armor off, only leaving his combat pants and UNSC T-shirt. Karl then put on his UNSC Cap on his head and walked out of the room. He had no weapons or armor, he was weak and vulnerable for the first time in a long time. When he walked down the halls he was met by crewman who had their rifles pointed at Karl. One of them pulled out cuffs.

Karl let a sad sigh leave his mouth and then he turned around and put his hands behind his back. They swiftly cuffed him and turned him to be escorted off the vessel. As they entered the hangar he saw all the crewman with bags and personal belongings, they were all going home most likely. Then he saw the Colonel being escorted cuffed as well and being dragged along by a few Security personnel.

As Karl exited the vessel via giant ramp he saw Leo talking to a few UNSC Officers and, Doctor Halsey, as well as Hood. None of them paid any attention to him as they walked by. His escorts pulling him along and him complying to anything they said.

"All crew and personnel please make your way to the hangar area of the station." A PA system said loudly. This was going to be one big trial, and Karl was in the middle of it about to get more public attention than he ever wished for.

As more people gathered around he saw at least 5 officers, highly decorated and all of the rank of Field Marshall. Then he saw a few civilians dressed sharply. He recognized one of the Military persons as the director of ONI and nearly broke the cuffs and went to beat her face in. But he restrained himself. Soon he saw some what looked like news reporters with Camera drones flying all about them. At least 4-5 of these camera drones looking like they were not filming yet.

Soon Karl was put on his knees in the middle of the Hangar. 'Feels like a damn public execution' Karl thought as he looked around as more crew flooded the area. He then looked around for Soya who he saw talking to some of the Civilian representatives, giving them all respectful bows and hand shakes. Karl was just glad, maybe they knew her or maybe they were glad she was safe.

Karl then saw a giant podium being brought into the Hangar. Soon after that the Camera drones started to fly around him and he saw Hood walk up to the podium.

He cleared his throat. "Citizens of Earth and of UNSC colonies, we are here today for the trial of Sergeant Major Karl Kuhn, who is convicted of murder and treason against the UNSC and it's citizens." Hood presented loudly and with authority. 'Treason?' Karl thought as he looked around. "He will be able to explain what he has done or confess, now if all eyes will make their way to Kuhn himself. In my experience he was a brave soldier who has accomplished a lot, and I have no reason to believe what he has done is not wrong. But I have doubt he did it for personal interest. Now to you Kuhn." Hood said as he stepped from the Podium and the guards picked him up.

Karl walked towards the podium, he knew exactly what he was going to say. He got up it and his cuffs were taken off. He then saw all the Human representatives walked forward and get in a semi circle in front of the podium. All of them had small devices near their chests, which he guessed were devices connected to speakers so everyone could hear them.

The Director of ONI walked forward. "Karl Kuhn, I have directly seen video feed of you killing my agents, and it seemed like you were the aggressor. These were good people, many I met personally, their interests lying for the UNSC and ONI. What do you have to say about this feed from a street camera of you attacking my agents." She then pointed towards a holo screen which showed him shooting agents in the streets of Berlin and then him holding up the women in the air and talking to her, then slamming her on the ground. Except it missed the important parts, like when they landed and taunted him and his mission.

Karl cleared his throat and everyone turned towards him. "You are missing one detail there ma'am. I was driving through the streets towards the space terminal. When I was attacked by 10 or so heavily armed insurgents, with pristine weapons. Which I have never seen before since my career after the war revolved around hunting down the bastards. Then you guys show up conveniently after I defend myself. And then threaten me and my mission to come with you!" Karl trying to keep his composure, 'Trying to play bullshit right in front of my eyes, let's just see who can convince these people better.' Karl thought. "Which I was not planning on doing since I was guarding my mission and her interests, at this point not the UNSCs, she wanted to go home and I was making sure she made it there. The fuck were you expecting, "Come with us" Crap? I had no reason to come with you, and when I said no, you assholes throw a fit and threaten to kill me and her." Karl said back.

"That is ridiculous!" She back lashed at him. "IS it!? Someone go get my helmet, I have all the footage of the bullshit that has happened, and If that doesn't convince anyone, then I may as well be thrown into space right now, that is all the evidence I need for this damn trial. And everything that has happened to me this last month. All I have done is good things for this race, and ONIs warmongering is going to drive this wonderful alliance into war." Karl said and then took a deep breath, "Yes I killed them, do I regret it? No. I was defending my mission, which I would complete at all costs. I have met the Sangheili personally, got to know a few of them. They are a very good people. Are there bad ones? Yes. They may be backwards in society standings but not technologically. Another war would only cause more death and destruction to humanity. And I bet most humans don't want war. Only assholes like you!" Karl said as he shot daggers into the ONI Director.

Karl saw Leo walk over to Hood with Karl's helmet. Hood then walked over to Karl with the helmet and Karl took it gladly. He then whispered for Hood to come closer. "Get me a cable sir, so I can connect it to the big screen." Karl whispered. Hood nodded and walked off.

"You lying piece of crap!" She yelled at him. "Oh I am not, I don't lie, it seems that is all your good at though, I see how you got up the ranks." Karl said monotone. "Stop this at once!" Karl heard one of the Generals say. "From what I have seen from what he said, you targeted thus man. Because he had sensitive information on your activities." The general said to Her. "What, no?" She said to him. "Humanity, this women has been arming insurgent groups for years, I command the 1st SOU or 1st Special Operations unit. A while back in Berlin during the attacks on the embassy, the attackers had UNSC made weapons and equipment. But this equipment was fresh and not dated. They always sent ONI detectives to clear it out, literally. So no one would figure it out." The general said. "But after Kuhn found a bunker where they were making these operations from, we found fully decked out soldiers, with ODST armor, and after some looking into we found it was fresh armor, and so was the training of the wearers. Which is why Kuhn was easily able to kill them." The general finished, "All in all, this women is a piece of shit." The general said pointing at her and then went back to his place.

Karl could feel the reactions of the people around him, her eyes were wide and she looked like she was getting very nervous. Soon Hood came back and handed Karl a cable. He attached into a slot inside his helmet. He used a holo pad to go to the footage. "This might be a while people, it is over 3 hours of footage of ONI's shit fuckery." Karl said loudly. He then went through the footage and explained everything that was happening as he went along, like he was a school teacher teaching kids.

He went through the attack on the Embassy, his attack in their Bunker. Then when they were ambushed in the streets of Berlin, to when they ONI landed. Karl then went to the situation on Sangheilios when he was stopped by his old spec ops leader. Then the attack on the keep. Then when he boarded the ship and fought the spartan. Then finally his encounter with the Colonel in the cell.

"You are literally showing us, you beating my officer!" She screamed at him. "I have good reason to show this, you see he beat the shit out of my mission. This is Karma. It is to show him how it feels to be tied up and beaten." Karl then switched to video footage of when he first saw Soya with bruises and cuts all over her body.

"Looks like this is becoming a counter trial." A civilian rep said. "From what I have seen here he has enough evidence from his own point of view to save his skin. But do you?" He said as he turned to the ONI director. "I... I-" She was cut off, "That is enough from you ma'am, I suspected this for a while, but this man here, a soldier doing his job showed us what you were up to." Another general said. "Arrest this women." A civilian rep said and then the guards guarding Karl walked away and walked over to her. "Hands out ma'am." One of them said. "O-Okay." She said as he put her hands out. "Another bad apple thrown in the trash." Karl said into the mic, and he heard some chuckles from the crowd.

"Well, this trial is over, and I expect all ONI operatives that are doing illegal things to come forward in the future, or we will send Kuhn after you, ONI's worst nightmare." Hood said as he stepped forward.

 **I'm glad I got this chapter out. It was fun to write. I want to wish everyone a late New Years and I hope that 2017 is good and all. It has been a while since I posted a chapter, but this one was worth the 4 hours spent on it, it will be edited in the future so don't worry about the typos, they will be fixed, I did a quick read over but I always miss stuff. Anyways thanks for the support, Reviews are appreciated and so is constructive criticism.**

 **Love, Stevie**


	19. Chapter 16: Back in Service (Final)

Karl stood proud as he heard Hood make that announcement. He felt good, letting out the deep truth to their lies. He just hoped that they would fix ONI and make it into what it was once made for, advanced intelligence and special operations.

"Kuhn, come here." Hood said sternly. Karl walked forward and stood in front of Hood, Karl immediately put his hand to his head in a solid salute. "Reporting sir." Karl said in his full soldier mode. "Walk with me Kuhn, before the cameras surround us." Hood said as he started walking off, Karl broke the salute and followed Hood out of the area.

"Alright, here is the deal Kuhn. Now that this shit is all figured out, I am planning on putting you back on active duty. Unless you need a well deserved break?" Hood said. He walked through an auto door and Karl followed suit. "Look you have been through a lot of shit, and if you want a break you can have one." Hood stopped and turned to Karl. He stopped and looked at Hood straight in the eyes. "I will be happy to be moved back into active duty sir." Karl said sternly and full of confidence, "I want to destroy the UNSC's enemies rather than be them." Karl said.

"Very smart. Now, we will have you ambassador looked after, and I cannot explain how much we owe you for protecting her so well. What drove you to do that to such an extent that you literally became an enemy of all of humanity." Hood asked, Karl was trying to think of the real reason, whether it was that he loved her or that he was doing it for the UNSC. "I did it because it was my duty sir, and I happened to befriend her, and I have already lost a good friend in the war. I didn't want to lose another." Karl said. Hood nodded. "Well I will be assigning you as an ODST shock trooper aboard the USS Viper, a new ship we recently built. It will be committing operations in the outer planets, the ones that were not destroyed. They commonly are under Insurrectionist threat and also Covenant threat." Hood said as he looked around. Karl felt a chill through the halls, normal for a space station. Karl nodded.

Karl was turning to head back out to the hangar when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, and Karl." Karl turned to face him once again. "Thank you for exposing her plot, if you didn't we would have to fight another war that would cost us too many lives." Hood said, and Karl saw actual appreciation on his face. "You are welcome sir." Karl said as he turned again and walked through the auto door.

When he got outside he saw most of the hangar was cleared except for a few marines here and there or navy personnel doing their jobs. He spotted Soya and Leo near a very recognizable figure. He saw Brandy with her distinct dirty blonde hair. She was wearing combat fatigues but not the armor and had a hat on, a bun exposing out the back.

He made his way over and everyone looked to him for a second. Then Brandy ran over to Karl and nearly knocked him off his feet. "Karl- Karl- Karl!" She said as she tightened her grip on him. "Wooow, calm down skippy." Karl said as he pried her off him. "Sorry, I am just glad you are in one piece." She said as she turned to walk back over to the other two. Karl followed her. "So, how come you always manage to find me?" Karl asked as they walked over. "Because I happen to be stationed wherever you show up, weird coincidences I guess." She said.

They walked over and Karl shared a quick hand shake with Leo and him and Soya hugged. "So, glad that is all over." Karl said as he took off his own hat and scratched his head. "Damn, I didn't expect such a quick presentation, how long have you wanted to say all that stuff?" Leo asked. "You have no idea Leo." Karl said as he rubbed his chin. "So what are you doing now?" Soya asked him. "I am being put in an ODST platoon on the USS Viper, a new prototype Frigate." Karl said as he had some look of remorse on his face, he hated leaving Soya alone. "Ah, that new Frigate that will be used specially for ODST operations. Heard it has some fire power too." Brandy said.

"Really, made specially for ODST ops?" Karl asked. "Yep heard it is quite the sight." Brandy responded happily. Karl just let out a grunt. "So you will be leaving your duties to protect me?" Soya asked, obvious sadness in her voice. Karl sighed, "Yes, but you will be protected by someone else, I do not know who yet, and get in contact with your father, he is probably worried." Karl said. Soya nodded and he could of swore he saw a tear. "Don't worry Soya, we will see each other sometime soon." Karl said as he approached her. She looked up and Karl gave her another hug, and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry I'm unkillable." Soya smiled at this and he pulled away from the hug.

Karl turned and looked at Leo and Brandy, "So, I probably have to report to the ship. Gotta get my bearings with what the crew will be like and the platoon I will be with. Hope they aren't assholes..." Karl said as he wondered off, "I wish all of you luck, and I will especially remember you Leo!" Karl shouted as he left the hangar area.

He tried to act cheery, but doing this was putting a heavy weight on his chest. But he wanted to get out and fight the people that were threatening humanity. So he could eventually retire and live in peace, maybe even with the people he loved the most. His family and friends he has met on the clusterfuck of a journey.

He walked down the long corridors of the space station on his way to the ship where he would be stationed, hopefully his armor would be there already. As he walked more thoughts of Brandy, Soya, and Leo popped into his head. Would he ever see them again? Would him and Soya still be in this 'weird' relationship they had. He didn't know but he hoped that he would not die from fighting the enemies he has fought in the past about 100 times.

He made it to the ship where he would be stationed and he saw it in all it's glory. It had two MAC cannons on the front and he saw the many secondary batteries and AA guns. It really was a beauty of ship. It had 'Viper' on this side and then the UNSC logo with a snake wrapped around it. 'Nice custom logo, really fits the ship' Karl thought as he walked towards it. When he got near he saw the Marines, ODST marines to be exact. They were all sitting about chatting, most of them with their luggage and other personal belongings.

Karl neared them, not having anything left but what he was wearing. All of his things had been left on Sangheilios, the pictures of his family, of Him Jorge and Brandy before Jorge was killed. It still haunts Karl of what he did to Jorge's body. He was the reason Jorge was never buried, the reason he was never honored with a coffin.

When he got there they all stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He looked back and had a stare off with the 40 or so other shock troopers. "What are you looking at marines?" Karl said as he walked past. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked to his left side and saw a young man wearing an officer's hat. "Sergeant." The young man said. "I am Lieutenant James Stevenson, I will be commanding this platoon on the Viper. I will be taking orders from the Captain of the ship for operations." Karl nodded and held out his hand, the man took it and shook it. "You don't mind being platoon sergeant do you?" Stevenson asked with a smile. Karl smiled back, "Of course not sir."

They released hands and Stevenson took Karl's shoulder, "Listen up marines!" He shouted, "We have the fiercest fighter in the UNSC on our platoon, you will show this man respect, whether you believe what he said in that trial or not! Whether you like him or hate him! He is a part of us now!" The lieutenant said in a very stern voice, loud but not shouting. "Yes sir!" All of them responded. Then Stevenson got closer and whispered. "Your armor is in the ship in the armory, it is as it was except clean and repaired." He said. Karl nodded, "Thank you sir."

"Sir, if I may ask, why are you being so nice to me?" Karl asked. He looked at Karl, "You saved my platoon in New Mombasa, we were cut off when our comms were down, you getting that comm back up saved most of my injured, and potential future casualties." He said. Karl nodded, "Just doing what was best sir, but no problem." Karl said. Stevenson pulled his hand off Karl's shoulder and looked to the platoon.

"Load up!" Stevenson shouted to them. They all grabbed their belongings and started loading up into the ship by the large ramp that was coming out of it. Karl followed close to Stevenson as they headed up the ramp. Karl saw the view of the hangar and saw all of the pelicans inside of it. The use of them would probably be foot insertion rather than drop pod, because drop pod wasn't always necessary for all operations.

Karl followed Stevenson through the winding hallways until they reached the barracks area. Karl went over to what he could only see as his bed as it had his name next to it. He sat down on it and observed all the other soldiers putting their things in the footlockers at the edges of the bed. Now was his time to become the job he was assigned.

"Alright listen up, I don't mean to be an asshole or anything, but I will be searching your footlockers for any contraband that is not to UNSC regulation! If I find anything be prepared to face my wrath." Karl said as he got up and started walking to the first bed. That soldier was a young corporal, kind of short with black hair, he looked like somewhere from the middle east regions of Earth.

"Hello sergeant, go ahead and take a look." He said, Karl nodded and began searching through it. "You sounded confident, hope you are right." Karl said as he looked. He didn't find anything not up to regulation so he moved on to the next one, and the next, and the next. Until... He was looking through the box until he saw something with a specific 'Ms. Jenny' with a almost nude girl on the front. Karl let a smile crack on his mouth. "Oooh, what's this Private." Karl said as he took it out onto the open. He saw the soldier's face drop and his whole face turned red.

Karl in a very exaggerated manner flipped some of the pages, "Damn private, you got a girl?" Karl said in a very sarcastic voice. He saw some of the few female marines holding back laughter as they sat near their footlockers done with inspection or not. "U-uh, no sergeant." He said nervously. "No need to be nervous private, I am sure that your mother would be proud anyways." Karl said. "Welp Private, I oughta smack your jaw for breaking the rules, but since I am nice I will just take this away from you now." Karl said as he walked away but smacked the kid in the face with the magazine before doing so.

"He is probably going to use it himself." Karl's ears went out and he turned around. "I heard that, who said that." Karl turned and looked towards a soldier trying to hold in a laugh. Then a couple more doing the same thing. He walked towards all of them. "You know what, maybe I will." Karl said as he went up to one of them. "But I don't break the rules." Karl said as he went up to each of them laughing. "All of you four come over here." Karl said and he saw the 4 troopers walk forward and stop infront of him.

"Alright, I want all of you to take one page from the magazine and pin it up to your wall until he have one combat mission." Karl said as he started ripping out the pages. "Nothing wrong with pin-ups right?" Karl stated as he gave each of them a page with the most lewd photos on them. "Alright pin them up now, I want to make sure they are here. And remember I am in this room with you boys so I will know if you take em down." Karl said as he watched each of them pin the photo right next to their beds.

"Great, they look beautiful don't they!" Karl said. No response. "Don't they!" He said more assertively this time, all of them in sync then shouted. "Yes sergeant!" Karl let a smile spill onto his face. "Good!" He shouted at them and then went to go sit down next to his bed.

"What about you sergeant, do you have anything contraband?" He heard a marine say. "Nope, don't even have anything with me except for my uniform." Karl stated flatly. "Well carry on, that's all you are free to go wonder now." Karl said. Most of them left the barrack but some stayed and pulled out a deck of cards or their holo- pads.

Karl missed this kind of thing, he had missed it all in a way. But he also couldn't get his friends off his mind. If any of them died while he was gone, he would never be able to forgive himself.

To get all these thoughts off his mind he laid down and took a deep breath. He covered his face with his hat to block out the light that was still on in the barracks. 'Just a small nap will help me out' Karl thought as he leaned back a bit and crossed his legs to get in a more comfortable position.

But he couldn't fall asleep. So instead he got up off his bed with a grunt and walked out of the barracks. He went through the hallways and followed the signs to the armory. After about a 5 minute walk he made it there. He opened the door to it with his special access as Platoon Sergeant and went to the locker that had his name on it. After he opened it he found his armor there. Also the weapons he had with him on the ONI ship, which were his magnum, energy sword, knife, shotgun, and assault rifle. He sighed in relief that he at least had his energy sword still. He loved that thing.

He then looked at his armor, which was clean now and looked very pristine, like when he first got it, not covered in blood stains and marks. But that is what made his armor looked scary. The helmet still had his skull on it at least and he let out another sigh of relief. He looked at it a bit longer and then closed his locker, making sure to lock it and double check that he locked it.

After that was established he left the armory and followed the signs to the mess hall. After walking for about 3 minutes he made it there. Upon entering he didn't see anyone there except for the other ODST troopers which just looked like they were eating while having a conversation.

Karl walked over and got a meal and took a seat next to all of them, which were around 10 of them. He began eating when one of them looked over to him. "Sergeant, I just wanted to ask..." Karl cut him off. "Ask about what?" Karl said as he swallowed his food. "What is Sanghelios like?" The curious marine asked. "Hot." Karl said, "It is very hot, because of the two suns it orbits, but it is very beautiful, full of life." Karl said as he thought about what it was like back on that planet. The soldier nodded and went back to eating.

"So what's all your names, I want to get to know the platoon." Karl said as he looked over to them. "I am Sherry." The marine that asked him the question said. "This is Laroche, Fergus, Chark, Herst, Parker, Garrison, O' Reilly, Brent, and Veloreal." He said, pointing to them all. Karl nodded. Laroche, was a fit man with brown hair and borwn eyes, and a small nose. Fergus was a tall but also fit, he looked a bit like Karl but with obvious face differences. Chark was dark skinned and about average sized, he was bald but had a slight stubble. Herst was a young women that had long black hair wrapped in a bun and looked latino. Parker was average sized and kind of skinny, he saw it was the kid he embarrassed, it didn't even look like he could shave yet, how he ended up in the ODST would be a mystery to Karl. Garrison looked a little old but was very muscular and had some grey hair near his ears, mixing in with his light brown hair. O'Reilly was an odd looking fellow, he had a very tight knit face and did not look very attractive, but looked like he had a lot of determination in his eyes. Brent was short and stocky, he looked like he could lift a warthog. Veloreal was had dark toned skin and also had black hair and looked latino he was tall and a bit skinny.

Karl nodded as he was done being introduced to them. "Glad to be side by side with you all." Karl said as he looked to all of them. "Glad to be side by side with a seasoned veteran, all of us havn't seen combat yet. But we have trained a lot." Laroche said in a french accent. Karl nodded.

He quickly finished his food and sat up. "All of you be in the barracks by 1900 or be scolded." Karl said as he left. He walked back to the barracks and found most of the men doing what they were doing when he left, playing cards or on their holo pads. Karl was now tired and could really use some sleep.

He knew this was going to be a new chapter in his life. He was ready for anything, and he was ready to fight for the UNSC, whether it was killing covenant or humans. He was ready to face anything to protect the human race and fight for what he thought was right.

With these thoughts in mind and he was able to fall to sleep.

 **This is the last Chapter of Halo: Alliance. No worries! The Sequel to this Sequel will be up in the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure you guys will enjoy it. As I have a lot planned for it.**

 **I want to thank everyone for the support through this story. It was a lot of fun to write. The next one will have a lot of action and will follow Karl and his Comrades as they fight humanity's threats, whether big or small. But will he ever see any of his friends again? Who knows. He might make new ones.**

 **RIP all ONI assholes, they deserved it. Anyways I will be signing off for now.**

 **Love you all, Stevie.**


End file.
